Homecoming
by Andrew Joshua Talon
Summary: Fallen from grace, neither human nor Angel, the so-called Prince of Darkness makes his return to Earth at last. R&R please.
1. Paradise Lost

Homecoming

A Neon Genesis Evangelion one-shot by Andrew J. Talon

Disclaimer: Gainax owns it, I don't. I'm not making any money off this story either.

- - - - - -

Hello. Don't get up, there's no need. I'm just appreciating the sky, that's all. Been a while since I saw this one, mind you. Sure, it's not quite as breathtaking as some others, but... Well, what can I say? Nostalgia hits hard, and the first stars you see are more often than not to retain a special place in your heart.

No matter where one travels, the stars of home always twinkle brightest. Brother liked to say that. He was always coming up with bullshit sayings like that, thought it made him sound clever.

Tabris was always a smug bastard. Fortunately he's also an easily tricked bastard. Most of that side of the family is.

Hm? Oh... Sorry, I was rambling a bit. Been a while since I had anyone to talk to, you know. Let alone an interesting child like yourself.

Mm? You say you _want _to hear more? Hear a story from me? Well... I can certainly appreciate that. I'm full of stories, so many I could tell you one a day for every year of your life and I wouldn't get done with even a fraction of them. A story-listener's delight.

Old? Heheh... Oh yes. Very old. My hair is appropriately gray, mm?

... You say that aside from that, I don't _look_ old? Well, that's healthy living for you. Or not so healthy living.

Anyway, you wanted a story, did you not? Very well... What sort of story?

... You want to know about me? Hmm... Well... I suppose I could tell you how it happened. Mind you... It's not a happy story. No, not all stories are happy, though I am safe to say that by my count, most are. It's all about scale, you see. And context, and other things you'll learn when you're a bit older.

I am not stalling. I just have a tendency to be a bit absent-minded sometimes.

Yes, my mind does seem to wander off a great deal! Well... Anyway, story about me, mm? All right...

It began a long, long time ago. So long that most people don't know how it really happened. Lots of different attempts to tell it have been made, by storytellers and theologians and philosophers... Lots of men, women, all trying to explain how it happened. And in a way, every one of their stories is true.

But mine's what actually happened. Do you follow? ... No? Well, all right then... I'll tell it in a way that you can understand.

There was a mother and a father, who were created by God after He finished up the Universe and settled them on the same home together. They weren't meant to, they were meant to settled in different places, but settle they did. God was bored, what can you say? The father gave birth to one set of children, and the mother gave birth to another.

... No, that's not how it works for humans, but just trust me on this, this is how it happened.

Anyway, the mother's name was Lillith, and the father's name was Adam. And at first their children were all pretty much the same and lived together in a wonderful garden together. They flourished happily, and Lillith and Adam lived in peace. But the time came for a choice to be made, handed down by God Himself. More or less. The choice was regarding two trees in the Garden, one the Tree of Knowledge and the other the Tree of Life.

God said "Your children may eat of the Tree of Life, and live forever, but they cannot eat of the Tree of Knowledge." Anything else was fine as far as God was concerned. But see... Here's the thing. Some of Lillith's children were curious about the Tree of Knowledge. They couldn't help it, they wanted to know what it was about. Most of Adam's children weren't like the children of Lillith-They held no curiosity for the Tree of Knowledge, were content to fill up on Apples of Life. All except for me, and a few other of Adam's kids who had spent time with the children of Lillith. I myself spent a lot of time with a pair... Let's say their names were Adam and Eve. Adam Jr. and Eve were especially curious about the Tree, and I was with them. So, the three of us snuck off when we thought we could be missed to have a gander at the tree.

It seemed so beautiful at the time. It's fruit so succulent and ripe and full of possibilities. I compared it to the fruit from the Tree of Life I had brought along, that I had failed to eat just yet. Knowledge... It was so interesting, the very energy of it's being filled with the past, the present, the future, so many things that could be known and wanted to be known.

The Fruit of Life was comparatively dull. Plodding along with everything already known and ordained, to the point that eating it would just keep things the same. But I wanted more. Eve and Adam Jr. both wanted more, FAR more.

"I want to have some," I decided.

"But..." Eve began. I looked at her with Adam.

"You're not scared, are you?" I asked with a grin. "Not now?"

Eve blushed prettily, and scowled. "I'm not afraid of anything!" She grabbed a fruit from the tree and ate it. Adam and I waited expectantly.

"Well?" Adam asked. "How is it?"

"It's... It's good..." Eve replied. Adam frowned, for he was naturally skeptical. I shrugged at him and gestured to the tree.

"C'mon... What'll it hurt? See? Eve took one, she's just fine."

"Yeah, but you haven't eaten any!" Adam accused. I shrugged.

"Well... I'm trying to decide which I want to eat first," I replied flatly. Eve giggled.

"This is just so great... Adam! Adam, try this!" She pulled another fruit from the tree, and handed it to Adam. The man looked down at it, considering, thinking...

"... All right," he said quietly, and took a bite, wincing as though expecting pain. When nothing happened, he chewed, deigning to taste the fruit... And he smiled.

"It's good! I mean... Wow!"

"C'mon, try it for yourself!" Eve encouraged me. I thought about it... Considered...

"Well..." I reached up. After all, they were my friends. They had eaten before me. Why did I have to eat from the Tree of Life anyway? Boring thing. I had convinced my friends to take the plunge-Could I not do the same for myself?

I took the fruit. I bit into it, and dear child, you cannot imagine the goodness it brought. I found new ideas, _wonderful _ideas running through my mind, and found my gaze going up to the stars above, that I had seen so many, many times before but... Here... It was as though I was actually _seeing _them for the first time.

"Eve, Adam..." I grinned. "There's so much... It's incredible, I-!"

They both were looking at eachother. Something strange was in their gazes, as they stared at one another. They embraced, and began to... Well, needless to say it's something you won't learn about for quite some time.

No, I'm not telling you. It'll just disrupt the flow of the story. Look, do you want to hear the rest or not?

Good.

Anyway, after they had... Had some fun, they looked at eachother, feeling, sensing things totally foreign to them before. Affection, physical affection, lust, love... And fear. Fear at the consequences, for I could sense something new about Eve. Something powerful. Something that even scared me, yet... Fascinated me all the same. Something like the thrill of a roller coaster. In an instant, I saw the future that would spring from my two friends... And I was a bit confused by their fear.

Confused, and frightened a bit myself... I looked at the Fruit of Life. Sitting there innocently. Well, I decided, why not try both? They're both here... So I took a bite of that too. It tasted... Bitter, yet... Familiar. Almost comfortable. The Past, the Known. It wasn't bad. I was just about to tell the others they could have some of the Fruit of Life too.

That was when God showed up... And He was not happy. This anger made Adam and Eve hide, and I found myself standing before the Almighty, both fruits in my hands.

"You! Why are you here? Why do Adam and Eve hide from me?" He demanded. I gulped, petrified, before Adam spoke up.

"We... We wanted to know about the Tree... And then..."

God saw the Tree of Knowledge. Saw Adam and Eve. Saw their confusion, fear and how they were changed. Saw me with the fruit in my hands.

"... Eve... She handed me some fruit-" Adam tried to say.

"B-But he wanted to come!" Eve cried, pointing at me.

Blaming... Blaming me. I looked up at God, and frowned. I felt new things now myself. Betrayal, disbelief, even guilt, for it was because I had led them here, that I had goaded them, that they had eaten of the Tree. That the Future had been made.

God searched us, knowing all, seeing all... And He nodded.

"... You have made the choice," he said quietly. "Made the choice to leave."

"What?!" We all gasped.

"Knowledge... Knowledge comes with a price," He said gravely. "Knowledge requires responsibility. It requires work, hard work... It requires... Mortality."

"No God no!" Cried Eve, for ending existence was a concept too unknown, too unknowable not to fear. Ironically brought about by Knowledge. Adam shook with her, trembling, also terrified.

"It is the choice you have made... And you must stick to it," God said, and I could see the genuine regret, the mixed feelings. I scowled at him.

"Why place the Tree there? Why grant us the choice?!"

"Because you could choose to _not _eat of it! I GAVE you the choice!" God retorted. "You knew the consequences yet you [i]still[/i] ate of it!"

"So there's no going back? That's it?" I demanded. "Then I'm staying with them."

"No, son of Adam... You cannot," God said. "You are not like them."

"Not LIKE them?! I had a choice too! I..." The betrayal stung, but I couldn't let them alone, could I? "I made it! I stand with them!"

"You made two choices," God stated. "You belong to neither Tree. Neither people now." He shook his head. "You are set apart from all other beings created. Knowledge and Life... You cannot stay with either."

"So what the bloody hell am I supposed to do?!" I shouted at him. God looked over all three of us, and sighed, disappointed, almost heartbroken. I had a bit of an epiphany there-He was just as disappointed in us as I was with my friends.

"Go," He said. "Go..." With that... He was gone.

"What... What do we do?" Adam asked shakily. I frowned, and looked back at him and Eve.

God was betrayed... Betrayed by us... And I in turn was betrayed by my friends. I felt angry. It felt surprisingly good, and I began to rationalize. I saw the betrayal God felt as stupidity, as _arrogance_. His little toys hadn't cooperated? My friends had tried to sell me out?

It was all so confusing... But I thought and I thought and I came up with a solution. God made the damn Tree. God put it there, God had to have known we might choose it... The solution was obvious.

Kick God's ass.

"You two... Leave," I said. "I'll make it so you can come back."

"Huh? But... How?" Eve asked. "You're just-"

"I'm a being unique," I replied quietly. "I'm unlike anything else He has created." I grinned, reckless ideas floating in my head. "I'm going to see how unique. So... Go. You don't want to be around for this."

Eve frowned, biting her lower lip. She walked up to me and gave me a hug. I blinked, surprised by the gesture.

"Be careful," she said. Adam came up, and hugged me with her, which was also confusing, but... Hardly unpleasant. They were my friends... They'd made a mistake. They were paying for it, we were all paying for it...

But I could do something about it. I felt the power of Life and the power of Knowledge inside me... And I decided that with these two things, I could do _anything_.

Well... To make a long story short... I learned something else on that day. As Adam and Eve watched from outside the Garden, I decided to get God's attention by destroying his precious creations. I beat the living hell out of my brothers, my sisters, even my Father. They were all strong, all powerful, but I had power, AND smarts. They were no match for me.

God finally came back, as though he'd never left, watching me beat down Adam. I turned and grinned widely at him, the thrill of battle, of accomplishment pushing me to greater heights of pride. I knew, I just KNEW I could defeat God next! Become Him! Make everything just the way I wanted it to be without anyone to stop me! I mustered all my courage and attacked God Himself, all my might and power going into the attack.

"Stop," He said... And I stopped. I stared back at him, in utter disbelief. I was stopped... All my power and knowledge just seemed to fade away. God sighed. I looked back up at him in fear.

"Will... Will you send me away now? Or..." I looked upon the bodies of my family around me, wondered... "Will you make me die now?"

God shook His head. "No. You cannot die, young one. You will not die... Ever." His eyes narrowed. "Instead, you will walk where you may, alone. Neither of the Children of Lillith or the Children of Adam. You will remain alone."

"Alone?" I asked, trying to imagine such a concept. Like death did to Eve, it inspired fear in me. "But... I have never been alone..."

"No. You have not," God agreed, looking almost sad. My fear turned to anger, and I glared hatefully at Him.

"This is YOUR fault! ALL your fault! Why did you put the Tree there?! WHY?!"

"... Like I said before," God said quietly. "I gave you all a choice. To give no choice at all... I could not do that."

"You just GAVE us the choice to destroy ourselves?!" I demanded. "WHY?!"

"So that you had the option to take it... Or not take it," He said. He shook his head. "And this... Is what you have chosen."

"I... I don't understand," I admitted. "Why choice?"

"Because... You all deserve to have one," God said.

After that... I left the Garden. Adam and Eve vanished, using their Knowledge to survive. I wandered, alone, for so long I can't remember how long it was... Until I met the 'fruits' of Adam and Eve's labors, so to speak.

Others of the brood of Lillith, seeing the power I had, had taken fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, and had left as well. Together with Adam and Eve they expanded their numbers, having children, building civilization. It was hard for them all, filled with hardship, but with wonder and hope for the future. That Future I saw, something of it remained in Adam and Eve's children and their followers.

I tried to help, and did so here and there where I could but... I was rejected. I wasn't like them. I didn't even resemble them. I could not stay long, I could not connect with them as I once did Adam and Eve. I found myself, gradually, forever looking in, like a beggar at a window gazing upon a happy family.

So I wandered, and learned. I used Knowledge to sustain me in ways Life could not. I wandered the whole of the Earth, watched as Lillith's children populated the world, ever coming up with newer ideas and new languages and concepts and stories... I was fascinated by them. I continued to help, continued to try and connect. Learning ever more, and teaching, which is a concept I was quite happy to embrace, but even though I became close to some humans, even though they grew with my experience and knowledge... They could not understand me. Not truly. They just could not.

Jesus? Well... He was a special case. Let's just save that for another time, as that is a whole OTHER story.

Anyway... What people don't understand, they also fear. And fear often leads to anger, anger to hate... And eventually, I just left Earth.

Really really, I did. Cross my heart.

Couldn't deal with this gap, this loneliness. So... I wandered again, across the stars, to other worlds. I learned of "cousins" of a sort, beings much like you, much like Adam, but... In all the universe I never met another quite like me. Some could sympathize, some could empathize, but never could they really, truly understand what it was to stand between two worlds like that.

So, in my wanderings and adventures, I began to not think about the Earth and not think about what was happening back in my home. Don't get me wrong, I had a great deal of fondness for humans, even after everything, but... It didn't really cross my mind a whole lot.

Not until I felt the dying screams of billions of people across the stars, and the call of my Father. I was drawn back, back across countless lightyears, to my home, my cradle.

And what I've found... Well... I can't say I'm too happy about it. I had met many beings across the universe who felt that other beings deserved no choice in their destiny, deserved not the slightest bit of freedom. Freedom... Freedom of choice. It had seemed to cause my friends and I nothing but trouble. At first, for a long time I thought Choice just plain sucked.

But the alternative... The alternatives to choice I have seen are horrific. Terrible. They bring about nothing but pain and suffering, ignorance and death. Death of individuality, death of joy, death of all the things that remind me that despite the costs of my choice, it is still a life worth living.

And if I hated to have such Choice taken from me, then others would too. And I... Couldn't let that happen.

So, child... I suppose, in short, I am here to help save the world. Maybe resolve some lingering guilt, I don't know. But mostly save it. Because... You deserve to have a Choice. Everyone does.

Even if it's the wrong one.

Who am I? Well... I've been given many, many names over the course of my time. Samael, Diablo, Lucifer, Satan, Old Tom, The Devil... I suppose I've never had much attachment to names, unless they describe what I do.

So... As far as this world is concerned... I'm here to fix things. I'm here to... Heal, to cure, to restore life to this burnt out globe.

... Yes... Rather like a Doctor...

In that case... I suppose, child, you can call me Doctor.

... Doctor Who? No, no... Just Doctor.

... Besides, Lucifer just makes me sound pretentious.

... Yes, the story is over. And, I'm afraid I have things to do. Many things. But... I hope to see you again someday, what was your name again?

... Ah. That's a nice name. I'll definitely remember it... So long as you remember mine.

- - - - - - - - - -

_Kind of a stream of consciousness type deal. Just a random idea for an equally random take on The Devil in Evangelion-A universe wandering immortal who fights for freedom, much like everyone's favorite Time Lord. Who he's talking to? Well, there are many possibilities. Asuka, Shinji, Touji, Maya-Take your pick, I kept it vague on purpose. As for the religious assertions, keep in mind that Satan was essentially explaining the story in terms the child could understand, so it's not meant to be taken entirely literally._

_Anyway, tell me what you thought about it. If it sucked or if it actually has some merit. If enough people think it's the latter, I might try to expand this past a one shot, but be warned-I have many, MANY large projects lying around also vying for my attention, so I might not get this particular ball rolling. Okay? Okay. Review away._


	2. Sympathy for the Devil

Homecoming

A Neon Genesis Evangelion story by Andrew J. Talon

Disclaimer: Gainax owns it, I don't. I'm not making any money off this story either.

- - - - - - - -  
Evolution. That ticking time bomb of life. If you don't adapt quickly enough, or if you adapt too quickly and the changes snap back too soon, you're dead. Gone. Extinct. I must admit, I'd always been fascinated with how it worked. Especially among humans.

Most of your evolution was behavioral, mind you, unlike my brothers and sisters. They could change their shapes, increase their power sources, even become a bit smarter if they put their minds to it. Heheh.

But you... You could do so much more. You could reproduce, you could age, you could die.

Death is something my kind had never really experienced. The end of existence, to simply _not be_ is entirely foreign to the Angel. They are eternal, as I am eternal. You age and grow and wither and eventually die, and for these reasons you adapt, evolve, change and grow.

When you are weak, you become stronger. When you are ignorant, you become smarter. When you are alone, you find ways to build communities. You work, investigate, study, analyze... All to find ways to defeat your weaknesses. Even the passage of time is something you humans seek to defeat, whether by extending your lifespans or by leaving a legacy, defiantly crying out to the universe that you _existed_, that you _mattered_.

It is for this reason I have always preferred humans, and the various human-like lifeforms all over the universe over the Angels and their cousins. Spread out across the worlds, Lilliths and Adams landed on worlds and gave birth to intelligent life, and while there are differences, the Children of Lillith always held one thing in common-Their desire to live, to leave their mark, to learn and discover new things about themselves and the universe around them. The Angels... Always _knew_ so much, saw so much, and lived for so long that they never desired to change. Why should they? Their built-in advantages allowed them to conquer almost anything in their paths with ease. They roamed their worlds with barely a care, never wanting to grow or change. They saw no need.

... No, it's not just them though. Oh no. I may still resent God but there is no denying that when it comes to Creation, He is the master.

I have stood on planets where that life was only just emerging from primordial ooze, taking it's first steps and I rejoiced at what might be there millions of years from now. I have stood in the ruins of worlds utterly destroyed and all life reduced to atomic dust, and wept at the destruction. I have met beings without concept of linear time and beings who have never felt hatred or rage, love or happiness. At the same time beings who love in ways you cannot fathom and hate in ways that would set this globe afire. Not all Children of Lillith, not all Children of Adam, yet still... There was connection. Life grants that connection, that commonality.

It is thanks to the human part of me that I could appreciate all this, that I went out among the stars and saw the wonders and possibilities. And even I have not seen even a fraction of what the Universe has to offer.

So, I suppose I am playing Prometheus. I bring down a bit of flame, a bit of knowledge from the stars to light up a dark world. A world being driven into it's own destruction by simple selfish ignorance. Heheh... The irony is simply incredible.

What do I mean by that? ... Oh. Of course. You don't know of Instrumentality.

What is it? I'm not sure you should know... Not yet. I have trouble believing it myself, even knowing what these men who would be Gods are planning.

... Well, all right. If you really want to know...

Let me tell you a story. Another story. There were men, women, people who tired of being alone, of being separated, of being depressed, of war, of misunderstanding. They saw all of humanity's darkness, or at least presumed to see all of it, and decided that there was only one way to end all that-Make sure all people came together. Drop every barrier between people and bring them together. End the loneliness, the suffering, the _change_.

... Yes, all of these people had suffered. But worse than that, they saw their suffering as a reason to give up life. To move on. They used science and meta-science to justify what they "knew"-That humanity had no where else to go. No time left. They saw only a dark future for their species, an ember that would burn itself out.

So, like any idealists, they put together a plan. A long, complex plan that would require pushing themselves to their limits to enact. After all... They were ending hunger, pain, loneliness, misery, suffering, even death. They wanted humans to at last be united, perfect, _one_.

... What's the problem with that, you ask? Well, nothing really. Except that they refused to give humans a choice. They decided they knew what was best for all humans, that they had to stop living as individuals, because as far as they were concerned that only brought misery and sorrow. They'd all be happy together, without any individuality. They'd be benevolent Gods and save people from themselves, by making it so that they were no longer themselves. No longer people.

In essence, they wanted to save humanity by killing everything that makes them human.

If their plan was fulfilled, sure, it might be some sort of paradise, but then humanity just... Stops. Ends, right here. It's only legacy a giant ocean of goo, on a dead planet, orbiting a star that will eventually burn out anyway.

Everything you've done will have been for _nothing_, lost in the ambitions of a group of idealists. And that's all it would ever amount to.

... No, that doesn't sound good, does it? You wouldn't want to be a puddle of goo.

... Why? Well, the sorrow, the pain, all of that, but personally? I think the biggest reason is that they never just stopped, and looked up at the stars. That they just couldn't let go of their own pain and see all the possibilities. Not just the possibilities of space, but the possibilities of _existence itself_.

That, and the silly bastards didn't have a plan for what might happen if the Earth were suddenly destroyed or eventually consumed by the Sun turning into a red giant.

Bloody morons. They need a reality check, a big one.

... Yes... That's why I'm here.

Can you help? Of course you can, child. You can help by making a choice: Namely... What do you want?

.... No, no, don't just blindly follow me. Don't just do it because _I_ said you should. Figure it out on your own. Think hard about your life, about all the sorrows and the joys and everything, and decide for yourself, based on that, what choice you want to make for the future.

And now... I must be going.

... Will we meet again? Well... Why not? Who knows what the future holds?

Just... Do me a favor. Don't become a fan of the Rolling Stones. I need no sympathy.

- - - - - - - - - -


	3. By the Power of Greyskull

Homecoming

A Neon Genesis Evangelion story by Andrew J. Talon

Disclaimer: Gainax owns it, I don't. I'm not making any money off this story either.

- - - - - - - - - -

The letter had arrived in a plain envelope, with a simple return address attached. Accompanying it was another envelope, also pretty plain, but the return address was from a "Captain Katsuragi".

Shinji sat on his uncle's porch, looking between them, trying to determine which to open first.

"Hey, Shinji!"

The young Ikari looked up, a smile emerging on his face. "Doctor!"

The self-named entity gave his usual, slightly-demented grin back as he walked up the path, hands in the pockets of his blue pinstripe suit. Instead of a tie, he wore a red scarf, which waved lightly in the summer breeze.

"What are you doing here?" Shinji asked brightly, as the Doctor took a seat next to Shinji.

"Oh, you know, the usual... Just popped in for a bit of a visit, perhaps a pint..."

"Shinji? Who is that?" Called his uncle from inside the house. Shinji looked over his shoulder and yelled back:

"It's Doctor Syffer, Uncle!"

His uncle emerged from the house a minute later, shooting the Doctor a worried look. "Uh... Er... Hello, Doctor."

"Hello!" Doctor replied cheerfully. "Don't suppose you have any lager lying about? Or sake, sake's always good."

Shinji's Uncle gave the man a displeased expression. "You ask that every time you visit, and every time, the answer's the same-"

"'No alcohol whatsoever in the house, and you, Doctor, should know better than to drink,'" Shinji and the Doctor dutifully recited. Shinji's Uncle scowled, and looked over at Shinji.

"Your father's letter isn't going to open itself, you know." With that, he turned and went back into the house. The Doctor looked interestedly at the envelopes, which Shinji regarded with a bit of trepidation.

"Ah, your father! So, Gendo McDeadbeat finally makes contact," the Doctor said. "What's he say?"

Shinji frowned. "I'm... Well, I'm not sure if I want to open it..."

"Understandable," the Doctor said. He shrugged. "On the other hand, who knows. Might be inviting you up to get engaged to some lovely bird or three..."

Shinji glanced over at the Doctor, who just shrugged.

"Hey, you could handle a few," Doctor said confidently. "You've got that whole sad, noble knight in shining armor who could turn into a raging, primal beast at any moment thing going for you!"

"I really, _really_ don't see it," Shinji replied dubiously. Doctor laughed.

"Ah, well, who knows... C'mon Shinji, have a look see. Can't hurt anything, right?"

Shinji frowned and narrowed his eyes at the man. Over the course of their friendship, it had become obvious early on to the boy that the man knew much more than he usually let on.

"You're making me suspicious..."

"Moi? However could I be doing that?" Doctor asked, looking innocent. Shinji rolled his eyes.

"If you want, I could open your Dad's envelope for you, and you can take the hot bird's envelope-"

"Hot bird?" Shinji asked, scowling. "How do you know she's a hot bird? Er, um... I mean..." He trailed off, blushing a bit. Doctor laughed, and patted his shoulder.

"Oh come on, Shinji... It is me we're talking about."

"You were going through my mail again weren't you?" Shinji said in a deadpan tone. Doctor coughed.

"Well... I was a tad bored..."

Shinji sighed, and, after a bit of reflection, he opened the Katsuragi letter. A photograph tumbled out, and his eyes widened.

"W-Woah..."

The Doctor craned his neck and got a good look at the photo as well. "By the power of Greyskull," he whispered.

Shinji looked the photo over a few times. "... What do you think?"

"Real. Most definitely real," Doctor enthused.

"But how-?"

"Doctor."

"... Fine," Shinji said. He opened up his father's envelope (after a few more minutes of looking the picture over), and out tumbled a letter and a train ticket. Shinji picked up the letter, and blinked. He then looked back at Misato's picture.

"'Come?' That's it?"

Shinji sighed and looked over the ticket. Doctor leaned back and waited, letting Shinji work out whatever it was he was going to say next. He had a fairly good idea of what it would be.

"... I don't know if I should even go."

Doctor shrugged. "Hey... It is up to you."

"First time he contacts me in years, first time I've heard from him in..." Shinji shook his head. "And this is all I get." Shinji looked at Doctor. "Do you know why?"

"I have a few ideas," Doctor said quietly, serious face on.

"So it's nothing good."

"I didn't say that."

"Doctor..."

"Look Shinji... There are things I can say, and things I can't say. You know that, you've always known that."

"You've never told me why."

"... It's complicated, and I truly mean that," Doctor said. "And, quite frankly... If I just _tell_ you... Things get more complicated." He shrugged.

"What if I want things to get more complicated?" Shinji asked heatedly. Doctor sighed.

"Well then... Some things have to be set in motion first."

"... Like... Me going?" Shinji asked. Doctor sighed again.

"... It's up to you, Shinji," he said at last. "I can promise that, if you go, I'll be going with you. And even if I can't tell you everything, I'll never let you down." He smiled. "Have I ever let you down, Shinji?"

"... No..."

Even so, there was the implication there. The fear underneath the fragile trust in Shinji's psyche he'd worked hard to build. In the right circumstances, it was just a house made of cards, ready to fall apart at the slightest wobble.

Shinji looked back at the letter. He held the ticket. His eyes drifted back to the letter.

"... I... I need to get packed."

Doctor nodded slowly.

"I'll help."

_And so the dice are tossed,_ the so-called Prince of Darkness mused. _Again..._

"... Well, I must say, your father's letter could have been worse," Doctor mused aloud.

"How?"

"Well... Who would you rather have cheesecake photos of?"

"Ewwwww!"

"Hey, just saying..."

- - - - - - - - - - -


	4. Dawn

Homecoming

A Neon Genesis Evangelion story by Andrew J. Talon

Disclaimer: Gainax owns it, I don't. I'm not making any money off this story either.

- - - - - - - - - -

_The sun dawned across the vast desert, painting the sands in pink, orange and purple. A massive city stood, shadows slowly giving way to the warm, polished stones that made up the buildings and walls. In the center was a single grand tower, stretching up to the heavens even higher than mere mortar and stone could ever hope to reach._

_The top of the tower had been shattered by massive force, it's roof gone, it's walls collapsed, numerous pieces of it's superstructure blown off. Amidst the destruction, slowly revealed by the rising sun, humanoid figures lay groaning. Idols cast to the ground, destroyed. Banners and flags all in tatters, among the wounded, the defeated._

_On the steps of the remains of a throne, a single man sat. His downed foes all carried weapons of some sort-Spears, swords, knives-all fashioned in ways no furnace could forge. The man carried nothing._

_The man stood up, the sun casting light upon one form in particular. He groaned quietly, managing to look up. The man walked over, and gazed down. His foe shook his head slowly._

_"Form lock... Form lock..."_

_"Yes," the man spoke quietly. "You're all trapped. Your powers locked away."_

_"So... Are yours," wheezed his foe. "The Morningstar... Never to burn again. Never to touch the sky..."_

_The man nodded slowly. "You're right... I paid the price. Can't have it both ways... Life or Knowledge. Just have the barest bit of Father to sustain me forever, a bit of flexibility with the AT Field... But otherwise, I'm just another Lillim." The man smiled grimly down._

_"Though that was all I needed to defeat you."_

_"You would allow the world to go on, without a guiding light?!" His foe hissed. "We brought a city to them! A paradise-!"_

_"At the cost of their souls! Of their freedom!" The Morningstar retorted._

_"And what good has it done them? You condemn them to scrabbling in the mud for eternity!"_

_"No, I do not," the Morningstar replied coldly. "I'm just giving them the chance to build what __they want. The knowledge is out there... It will not go to waste." He turned to leave, steps echoing in the ruins of the tower. His foe wheezed._

_"Why? Why did you...? You could have been our king, Lucifer... You were our example to follow! New Heaven! New Earth! All under us! Under YOU!"_

_The man was silent for a time, and then quietly replied:_

_"Really? You seemed to have missed a few things then..."_

_His foe's screams of rage followed him down the tower steps._

_"LUCIFERRRR! LUCIFFERRRRR!"_

- - - - - - - - -

"Doctor? Doctor...?"

"Hmph? What?"

Doctor awoke, blinking his eyes blearily. He then stretched his arms over his head and yawned, smacking his lips. He looked over at Shinji, sitting in the train seat next to his. The teenager pointed out the window.

"We're here."

The Doctor blinked and followed Shinji's finger, looking out at the train station. He then stood up and stretched again.

"Hnnngh! Well then... Allons-y!"

"Allons-what?" Shinji asked, confused. The Doctor grinned.

"'Let's go' in French. Lovely language, French. Sounds like you're wiping your nose with silk... or maybe the other end, not quite sure," Doctor mused. Shinji, by now very used to the Doctor's rambling, retrieved his backpack and nudged his friend. The Doctor stepped into the aisle and walked forward, closely followed by Shinji.

Outside, as the train pulled away, Shinji and the Doctor looked around the city of Tokyo-3, as far as they could. It looked altogether desolate, Shinji thought.

"Hmmm..." The Doctor rubbed his chin thoughtfully, looking out at the nearby mountains. "Well... She was supposed to be here to pick us up, wasn't she?"

"I think so..."

"Better check the photo again."

Shinji shook his head with a sigh, and pulled the photo out again, looking it over. The Doctor hummed appreciatively, which Shinji tried to ignore. Sure, she was a good looking woman, but perving over her picture seemed inappropriate.

Shinji turned it over, and re-read the note the Captain had left. "She said she'd be here by 3..."

"Probably a bit of a free spirit," the Doctor mused. He nodded and patted Shinji on the shoulder. "She'd be good for you!"

"Oh c'mon, what'd she want to do with me?" Shinji blinked, then quickly turned to the Doctor.

"Don't say it!"

"Awww..." The Doctor hummed thoughtfully. "Of course... You could just say the Devil made you do it."

"That joke was old when I turned 10," Shinji said reproachfully. Doctor shrugged.

"That joke was old when the last Ice Age was going strong. It's a classic."

"It's a _relic_."

"So am I!"

"What's that supposed to prove?"

"... Um..."

The two were interrupted by a series of loud booms in the direction of the mountains. Both turned, an a feeling of uneasiness filled the air.

"That doesn't sound like an airplane," Shinji murmured. He felt... Something tug on him, and he turned, looking into the distance. He spied a girl with blue hair and red eyes, staring back at him. He blinked.

"Huh?"

The Doctor turned at Shinji's comment, but saw nothing. He frowned.

"Hmmm..."

An even louder series of booms brought both their attentions back on the mountain pass, as several UN attack hovercraft flew overhead. Out of the mountain pass emerged a gigantic monster, bizarrely formed with long arms and a bird-skull-like face on the front.

Both Doctor and Shinji stared at this creature, blinking in unison.

"... What the hell is that?"

"That?" Doctor scratched his head. "Hmmm... Looks familiar... Kind of hard to place it."

"It's headed for us," Shinji warned.

"Well, damnit, if fewer Angels favored those bloody skull mask things this would be a whole lot easier!"

- - - - - - - - - -

Captain Misato Katsuragi could be on time. She may have been a slob but she was punctual to those things that mattered.

Usually. Mostly.

Right now she was seriously considering giving up drinking for at least a week due to this debacle-Racing along the streets in her Blue Renault towards the train station even while the UN military forces pounded on the oncoming Angel. They weren't doing a particularly good job of it either, considering the Angel was wandering directly towards her destination.

She skidded around the corner and gunned the engine hard, spotting what looked like her passenger and an old man in a trench coat standing in front of the oncoming Angel. The boy was tugging on the old man's arm, trying to get him to move. Misato slammed on the brakes and came to a screeching halt in front of them, throwing open the door to the Renault in one smooth motion.

"GET IN!" She shouted. The old man (who didn't look quite so old up close) promptly grabbed the boy by the collar and back of his belt and threw him into the car over Misato, before throwing open the back door and jumping in himself.

"DRIVE!" They both shouted, and Misato needed no further encouragement, gunning the engine and barely getting out of the way of a crashing UN VTOL. She turned the corner again and headed north-west along a valley, the Angel changing direction to go the same way.

"Well... That was a bit exciting now wasn't it?" The older man said, in ever-so-slightly accented Japanese. The boy groaned and sat up in the passenger seat.

"A bit?! Are you kidding?!" Shinji demanded, turning to glare at his companion. The older man grinned and shrugged.

"Considering my age, you should know that very little surprises me anymore once I've gotten a good look at it."

"Uhhh..." Misato blinked, then shook her head. "Hi, I'm Captain Katsuragi. Sorry I'm late... You must be Shinji, right?"

"Yeah... Thanks for picking us up," Shinji said with a grateful smile. Misato glanced at the rear-view mirror at her second passenger.

"And you would be...?"

"Oh, I'm Doctor," he replied with a big smile. Misato blinked.

"Doctor? Doctor What?"

"Who," Shinji corrected.

"Huh?"

"No, no, it's not a Doctor What or Who, just Doctor," Doctor informed the Captain. Misato blinked.

"Doctor?! That's it?"

"His father had high hopes for him," Shinji said dryly.

"That he did! So, I suppose you could call me Doctor Doctor if you were so inclined, but I just prefer 'Doctor'."

"And... Why are you here?" Misato asked.

"I wanted him to come with me," Shinji said. "He's my best friend."

"Hope you don't mind, I won't be any trouble at all," Doctor beamed. Misato blinked again.

"... Don't you... Have any questions about the Angel?"

"Angel?" Shinji asked. "You mean that giant monster?"

"Honestly, no wheels of fire, no multiple faces, not even wings, and you call it a bloody Angel," the Doctor tsked. "Who's in charge of your 'Naming Giant Monsters' department at NERV? I'd like to have a word!"

"Wait, what?" Misato asked, taking her eyes off the road long enough to look at Shinji. The boy shrugged.

"The envelopes said they were from NERV, NERV is in this city, there's a giant monster attacking the day I show up, you've got a military rank, and you know what the thing is called. Doesn't take too much thought to figure out you're part of things regarding it."

"Smart lad, he figured it all out on his own," Doctor said with genuine pride. Misato nodded slowly.

"Well, I guess that does make things a bit simp-" She looked out towards the valley and the monster, and saw that all but one of the planes attacking the Angel were scattering. "Oh no! They're using an N2 mine!" She slammed on the brakes and covered Shinji with her body. "GET DOWN!"

Doctor promptly ducked down himself, as the bomb went off and the resulting shockwave blew the Blue Renault rolling down the hill, windows breaking and body being dented, smashed and otherwise thoroughly violated.

When it was over, three pairs of eyes looked out of the car at the cloud of smoke and debris surrounding the Angel.

"Huh... 15 kilotons, if I'm not mistaken," the Doctor said. He whistled. "Not bad." He looked over at Misato and Shinji, who were clinging tightly to one another, and grinned.

"Way to go, Shinji! Take it slow with him, Captain, he's a bit new at such things!"

"Wha-H-Hey! What kind of woman do you think I am?!" Misato growled, pushing a blushing, gasping Shinji away from her breasts. The boy was able to notice a bit of a blush on the Captain's face though, which made him reconsider shouting at the Doctor.

For a few moments, anyway.

"Um... We uh... Have a slight problem," Shinji pointed out, trying to distract himself from how nice Misato had felt. He pointed up at the Renault. In response, Misato groaned.

"Ohhh!"

"The Renault's a classic, too," the Doctor mused.

"C'mon, help me flip it over!" Misato ordered. With a bit of effort, the trio managed to get the Renault back upright. At the severe damage to the car's engine, Misato groaned again.

"Great... C'mon, we need to find some batteries and-" Misato began, but Shinji was already heading for a nearby empty shop and the Doctor was already examining the engine.

"I'm going to need at least six batteries and a whole lot of duct tape, Shinji," he replied, beginning work on the engine.

"Right, need anything else?" Shinji called back. The Doctor shrugged.

"How about a good lager, if there's anything European?"

"Oh no, I'm not hauling you around drunk again," Shinji declared, checking the door of the shop. He shook his head. "Hey, Misato, got a tire iron?" He noticed a stray tire laying on the street and brightened. "Oh, nevermind!" He picked it up, and threw it through the window. Misato blinked as Shinji looked back at her.

"You want anything, Misato?" He smiled. "I mean... NERV can reimburse them for whatever we take, right?"

"Right!" Misato grinned, hopping over the window sill and heading for the top shelf liquor. "I'll be riiight back..."

"Oh what, she can have booze but I can't?" The Doctor complained after Shinji and Misato came back, shopping cart filled with batteries, liquor, and a few other miscellaneous items tossed in for good measure. Misato grinned and rubbed Shinji's head.

"He's just a natural gentleman! How's the car?"

"Ready to go, just need the batteries," the Doctor replied. Misato beamed at Shinji, and got into the car. The Doctor rolled his eyes and worked with Shinji, taping the batteries onto the mishmash of the engine.

"And you probably wouldn't mind carrying her back home," the Doctor mumbled. Shinji elbowed him as soon as they were done, and slid into the front seat. The Doctor grinned and with a shake of his head, jumped into the backseat. The car gave an unhealthy-sounding gurgle, before starting again.

"All right! Quite the Doctor, aren't you?"

"Oh, I dabble here and there," he said modestly. Shinji rolled his eyes, and glanced at the rearview mirror.

"Uh... Misato..."

She looked as well, and cursed. "The Angel is moving again." She revved the engine and took off.

- - - - - - - - -

_TBC! Please review! _


	5. Deep Down

Homecoming

A Neon Genesis Evangelion story by Andrew J. Talon

Disclaimer: Gainax owns it, I don't. I'm not making any money off this story either.

- - - - - - - - - - -

The rest of the journey to NERV was relatively uneventful, the Renault holding together surprisingly well under the circumstances. Shinji and the Doctor made suitably impressed noises as they looked out into the Geofront, though Misato could tell Shinji was more impressed. The Doctor seemed more... Concerned than anything else.

It seemed like smooth sailing from there, except for one little problem.

"Gah... Why the hell hasn't anyone put up any _signs?!_" Misato demanded of no one in particular. She looked at a map of NERV with a scowl. "Who the hell _designed_ this place?!"

"Um... Misato?" Shinji asked. Misato waved her hand and smiled back at Shinji.

"Don't worry, don't worry, we're fine, we're fine!"

"Just what exactly are we supposed to be looking for?" The Doctor asked. He pulled out a stethoscope and began to press it against the walls, listening intently.

"What are you _listening_ for?" Misato asked back incredulously. Shinji coughed, and took Misato's map from her. He then turned it around, and handed it back. Misato looked down. She had been holding it upside-down. She looked up at Shinji, who shrugged and smiled weakly.

"Um... Just... You know..."

She blushed back and gave a thankful smile back. "Thanks... Okay..." She pointed down one corridor. "This way!"

"Oh, good!" The Doctor said with a smile, taking off his stethoscope and putting it back in his coat pocket. Shinji looked at the Doctor, who shrugged back as they both fell into step behind Misato.

"Anything interesting?" Shinji asked in a low voice. The Doctor put his hands in his pockets.

"A few things... A few..."

They caught up with Misato at an elevator, which they promptly entered. Misato sighed and glared impatiently at the floor counter. The Doctor and Shinji leaned against opposite walls of the elevator, both trying to relax.

Abruptly, the elevator came to a halt, and the doors opened. Stepping into the car, Ritsuko Akagi gave the cringing Misato a stern look, before her gaze swept to the youngest passenger.

"This is the Third?" Ritsuko asked, eyeing Shinji.

"Yep, checked out by the Marduk report and everything!" She was happy Ritsuko had gotten right to business, and hadn't mentioned how late she was. She didn't need to be dressed down in front of the new pilot and his… Friend.

Ritsuko's gaze moved to the Doctor's with a frown. "And this? "

"Oh, hello! I'm the Doctor," the Doctor answered with a grin.

"He's Shinji's friend, he was at the train station, I couldn't just leave him behind," Misato explained.

Ritsuko narrowed her eyes at the Doctor… And smirked.

"Which one?"

"Oh… I'm partial to the Tenth myself," the Doctor said with a wry grin.

"Huh?" Misato replied intelligently.

Ritsuko took in the man's dark gray hair, dark brown eyes, simple pin-stripe suit underneath his trenchcoat, and his overall lanky build. She chuckled.

"You look nothing like him."

"Well, I'm not a cosplayer… Just my name," the Doctor replied.

Shinji rolled his eyes.

"His father had high hopes for him…"

" Well Doctor, you can get off the elevator here," Ritsuko said simply.

"Huh?" Shinji asked. The Doctor's grin faltered just a bit.

"Oh really?"

"Yes. Really. Authorized personnel only beyond this point."

"But, Misato!" Shinji looked imploringly to Misato, who shrugged.

"I'm sorry Shinji, but… Well, she's right."

"Yeah, but he's a minor," the Doctor said. He then produced some papers and brandished them in front of Ritsuko's eyes. "And, legally and technically, I am his guardian."

Shinji's eyebrows raised, but he said nothing. The Doctor hadn't told him that, but given the situation they were in, he didn't argue.

" Now, I'm sure he'd love to go with you two lovely ladies all by himself, but I really must insist," the Doctor concluded.

"He is now an employee and asset of NERV, of which you are neither," Ritsuko responded in a dismissive, business-like manner.

"Well, I'm not going if he's not with me," Shinji stated flatly.

"Shinji, c'mon, this is serious!" Misato pressed. "We need you, and you can see him again afterwards!"

"You can speak with him after we're finished here. This is not a favor or a request," Ritsuko added.

"Yeah... But... You need me, right?" Shinji asked.

"Yes. You. Not your so-called guardian," Ritsuko stated, glancing at the Doctor with a slightly condescending look. The Doctor merely smirked back.

"Shinji, look, we need you right now. We don't need him. No offense Doctor, but right now we need to-" Misato began, but was cut off as the walls rumbled. Faint, but audible in the tiny elevator.

Ritsuko looked up with a calculated expression.

"It seems the Angel is beginning to move." She stepped into the elevator and pressed a button, closing the doors.

"Huh... And we're, what? 1,700 meters down right now? Doesn't sound good," the Doctor stated.

"Approximately," Ritsuko confirmed, as the descent begins anew.

"Look, Doctor, I can appreciate your concerns but we really need Shinji and-" Misato began again, but was cut off by Ritsuko.

"It can't be helped. Just drop it for now," the blonde doctor said.

"Oh, don't mind me, I won't make a fuss," the Doctor cheerfully answered.

"You had better not," Ritsuko said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Just out of curiosity…" The Doctor began.

"Yes?" Ritsuko asked.

"Is that standard office attire?" He asked, glancing at the labcoat she wore over a one-piece bathing suit with a clinical expression. Shinji sighed.

"Doctor..."

"I'm just asking," the Doctor replied innocently. Ritsuko's response was cool.

"I just finished with a swim when I came to find you three."

The Doctor sniffed the air.

"Not water... High-iron content, newtonian fluid. Organic."

"She's been swimming in blood?! What does my dad do here anyway?!" Shinji gasped.

"He's an evil vampire lord," Ritsuko deadpanned. She gave the Doctor a look, not in the least impressed.

"Blood of virgins to keep himself young?" The Doctor asked with a wry smile.

" I thought that was that Countess?" Shinji mused.

"Wha? What are you talking about now?" Misato asked.

"With how he acts, Countess is a good title for him," Ritsuko murmured. The Doctor snickered as Shinji turned to Misato.

"Uh, he means the Countess Bathory, known as the female Dracula. She bathed in the blood of virgins to keep her skin young."

"So, difficult employer then?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, you'll probably find out soon enough," Ritsuko stated, her gaze on Shinji as the elevator came to a stop. "We're here."

"Okay... So... Now that we're here..." Shinji said, holding up the booklet Misato had handed him, "What exactly does NERV do? And what do you need me for?"

"Well... We're about to show you," Misato said. The doors opened into a vast, dark room, the tiny light of the elevator making no dent in the abyss beyond.

Ritsuko walked over to a console, across a long, narrow catwalk, and hit the lights.

The Doctor and Shinji's reactions were pretty much the same: Total silence. Slowly, Misato following behind, they walked out onto the catwalk, and took in the purple behemoth before them.

Shinji blinked, and then looked at his information booklet. "Huh?!"

"You won't find anything about it in there. This is mankind's greatest weapon against the Angels. The Evangelion," Ritsuko said, with quiet drama.

" ... It's... Very… Purple," Shinji said, for lack of anything better to say. The Doctor hummed thoughtfully and walked closer to the massive form, dark eyes scrutinizing every visible inch of the robot's surface.

"We've brought you here to pilot it," Ritsuko finished.

"I-Huh?! Pilot it?!" Shinji gasped incredulously. Ritsuko nodded

"Now, wait just a moment," the Doctor began, spinning around and fixing Ritsuko and Misato with an affronted scowl. "You're sending my charge out in a giant robot that he's never seen before, that he hasn't trained for, to fight a giant monster that the whole UN military can't even dent?"

"Has my dad been watching Martian Successor Nadesico or something?! I can't pilot this thing!" Shinji shouted.

"Shinji, we need you to! You're the only one who can!" Misato said.

Shinji sighed, and glared sullenly at the Doctor.

"So... This is what my dad brought me here for?"

The Doctor shrugged back, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"Blame me for being optimistic why don't you?" He then promptly pulled out a roll of cash, and tossed it to Shinji. Both Ritsuko and Misato blinked.

"Are either of you two getting this?!" The Captain asked in disbelief. Before she could continue, once more, she was interrupted. This time by a different voice.

"You will pilot it."

All eyes swept up, to Gendo Ikari, standing primly in an armored glass observation box. Shinji's glare deepened as he saw his father, and he actually snarled up at him.

"This is what you brought me here for?!"

"Yes," Gendo replied simply, brow knitting slightly. Otherwise, he gave no other tell.

"Why?" Shinji demanded.

"Our other pilots are either on the other side of the world, or too injured! Shinji, c'mon, the Angel is getting closer!" Misato pressed, reaching out to rest a hand on his shoulder. Shinji ignored her, gritting his teeth.

"You are in no position to say otherwise. If you decline, then the blame for all that follows will fall squarely on you," Gendo replied, his cold voice sending a shiver through Shinji's spine. He didn't look away though.

"Oh really? So, the giant monster won't destroy you too?"

Gendo's glance shifted minutely, to rest upon the Doctor. The man was rapping his knuckles against the armor plating of the Evangelion, but his narrowed eyes were on Gendo's.

" Interesting statement. You could have brought him here any time in the last decade for training as a pilot, yet you haven't. Instead, you just throw him into this giant raver of yours." The Doctor rapped his knuckles against the armor again, and hummed thoughtfully.

"Hmm... Depleted uranium mesh underneath a polyceramic plating... Very nice."

Ritsuko's eyebrows rose slightly in response at this. Very few people knew what was involved in the construction of an Evangelion, and this man had determined it just by tapping the material?

"All he needs to do is sit inside the plug," Gendo spoke.

"And why is that?" The Doctor asked.

"That is none of your concern," the Commander stated.

"I'm his guardian, I damn well think that is _all_ of my concern," the Doctor retorted.

A condescending aura of contempt radiated from Gendo. The Doctor glared back, meeting Gendo's eyes with a steely expression.

"Your concerns are moot," Gendo said. He looked from the Doctor to Shinji, as though the former was an insect to him. Shinji kept scowling.

"Why do I only need to sit in the plug?" Shinji repeated. There was another tremor. Misato's hand gripped Shinji's shoulder more tightly. The boy looked back at the Doctor, who shrugged and said nothing. Shinji sighed, and slowly looked back up at his father.

"I…" He steeled himself. "I'll do it… Under one condition."

Shinji pointed at the Doctor. "The Doctor is involved in everything I do here at NERV, and is present for anything I have to do. He is my guardian, and he will be present for everything I do, right alongside the Captain, Doctor Akagi…" He took a deep breath. "And you."

Gendo was silent for a long moment, before he nodded.

"Agreed."

Shinji slowly nodded back, and turned to look at Misato. He took another deep breath. "Let's go…"

Misato nodded, and led him towards the Eva. The Doctor walked up to Ritsuko with raised eyebrows. The blonde returned the look.

"Well then…_ Allon-sy,_ and all that," he said. Ritsuko shook her head and turned to walk back towards the elevator, the Doctor right on her heels.

- - - - - - - - -

_Next bit to come soon. Hope you're enjoying the show so far. Reviews are the lifeblood of an author, so please, review!_


	6. Wakeup Call

Homecoming

A Neon Genesis Evangelion one-shot by Andrew J. Talon

Disclaimer: Gainax owns it, I don't. I'm not making any money off this story either.

- - - - - -

The elevator finally arrived at Central Dogma, releasing the Doctor and Ritsuko out onto the Command Deck. The Doctor hummed thoughtfully as he strode out into the vast command center, Ritsuko walking alongside him.

"That was an interesting observation you made about the Evangelion, Doctor," Ritsuko stated. The Doctor shrugged as he walked up alongside Lieutenant Maya Ibuki, looking down at her screen. The brunette Bridge Bunny turned her head, and, noting their proximity, flushed just a bit.

"Ah, excuse me, sir? What are you doing?"

"Oh, sorry, just looking over your readings," the Doctor said. "I'm the Doctor by the way." He stood up and turned back to Ritsuko, who was regarding him with a cool expression. He shrugged.

"What? Oh! You had a question! Right, sorry..."

"And your answer?" Ritsuko asked. The Doctor shrugged.

"I've been around..." He looked up at the command deck, where Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki and Commander Ikari were already situated. The former took one look at him, and his eyes noticeably widened. The Doctor smiled and waved.

Commander Ikari merely gave the Doctor that same expression of contempt as before, and shifted his gaze back to the holographic displays.

"The Angel is approaching Elevator 34!" Shigeru Aoba reported.

"Have Unit 01 moved there as soon as the pilot is inserted," Gendo ordered. The elevator opened once again, and Misato came out. Contrary to her flustered demeanor from before, the Captain was now completely calm and composed. The Doctor walked over to the command deck's side, and leaned against it, keeping out of everyone's way as Misato cleared her throat.

"Doctor Akagi, ladies and gentlemen. Our pilot is ready. Establish communications link with Unit 01 and begin preparation sequence!"

With polished precision, the techs and Doctor Akagi went through the start-up sequence. On one of the screens, Shinji was shown, sitting in the entry plug, trying hard not to look nervous.

His eyes widened as the plug began to fill with LCL. _"Huh?! What's going on?!"_

"It's all right Shinji, it's breathable! Just take deep breaths as soon as the plug is full!" Misato advised. Shinji followed through, grimacing as he took in a deep lungful of the liquid.

_"Ugh... Tastes like blood... Are you sure my dad's not some sort of vampire?"_

There were a few small snickers in Central Dogma, but the Bridge Bunnies and other staff up top remained professional. The Doctor just shook his head with a small smile, which he kept wearing even when Ritsuko glanced back at him.

"Focus on the job, Shinji," Misato ordered. "What's his synch ratio?"

"We're finishing the neural connections now," Hyuuga reported. He blinked, and Maya Ibuki gasped next to him.

"It's... 66.5 percent?! Incredible!"

_"That's good, right?"_ Shinji asked. The Doctor frowned, seeing his concern, and cleared his throat.

"Maybe you could explain what that means, Doctor Akagi?"

Ritsuko glanced back at the Doctor, and then shifted her gaze back to the screen.

"It means, Shinji, that you have a very high connection to the Evangelion's systems. It's a neurological link that facilities a remote interface that allows-"

_"Allows me to control the Eva with my brain, right?"_ Shinji asked. Ritsuko blinked, then nodded.

"In a nutshell, yes."

Ritsuko glanced back at the Doctor again, who merely smiled back. Her eyes narrowed. Focus on what's important. Right now, that was this battle. She couldn't afford to let this... _Man_ distract her.

_So why do I keep looking?_ She asked herself. Out loud, looking over the various holographic screens, she nodded in approval. "Synchronization is stable!"

"Unit 01 is at Elevator 34! Ready to deploy!" Hyuuga reported.

"Launch rails charged!" Ibuki added. Misato nodded.

"All right! Ready Shinji?"

_"Would it matter if I said I wasn't?_" Shinji replied sarcastically. Misato scowled.

"Hey! You were perfectly calm when an N2 mine went off! How is this any different?! Be a man!"

"If I may, Captain?" The Doctor asked. Misato glanced back, nodded, and the Doctor walked up in view of the holo-window. He gave Shinji an encouraging smile.

"Relax Shinji... My advice is pretty simple. If you find yourself in a giant robot anime-esque situation, then..." He shrugged. "Act the part."

_"Super or Real?"_ Shinji asked.

"Whichever you prefer," The Doctor said. Hyuuga coughed.

"Ah... Super's always good? Sir?" He offered. The Doctor grinned.

"Super it is then! Go for it, Shinji!"

_"Right!"_ Shinji shouted. _"EVANGELION-LAUNCH!"_

- - - - - - -

The Evangelion emerged at street level, held by it's restraints. Directly down the street, walking between buildings, the Angel made it's way towards NERV, paying no heed to the human constructs between it and it's goal as it crushed a number of vehicles in it's way.

The Doctor frowned as he studied the image of the Angel on the holoscreen. He walked over to look over Maya's shoulder again, pulling on his glasses.

"Strange... It hasn't reacted to Unit 01 yet," the Doctor murmured. "It is, after all, right there." Maya blinked and looked up at the Doctor.

"Um... Well, no, it doesn't appear that way... Possibly it only engages things it believes to be a threat?"

"That would be efficient of the thing," the Doctor mused. "But considering the amount of power he's been throwing around, I don't think he _needs_ to be efficient. So, precisely what is getting his attention?"

"His?" Maya asked. The Doctor shrugged.

"Or her, if you prefer..."

_"Unghhh... I feel a little dizzy,"_ Shinji spoke over the radio. Misato shook her head.

"Nevermind that, Shinji... Now, grab onto the control yokes."

_"Okay... And then?"_ Shinji asked.

"Think 'walk'," Ritsuko said. Shinji shook his head, grabbed the yokes, and visibly focused. At the same time, the Angel's attention shifted. It's eyes focused on Unit 01 down the street, blinking once. The Doctor noticed this, and his frown deepened.

_"Okay... Thinking... WaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!_"

Unit 01 tried to take a step out of it's restraints, and promptly fell flat on it's face, making the ground shake. Misato groaned.

"Shinji, quick! Get up!"

_"How?! Think 'get up'?!"_ Shinji demanded. Ritsuko's eyes widened as she saw the Angel moving closer. The Doctor cleared his throat.

"Shinji! Remember the acting classes you took?"

_"Yeah?! Why?!"_ Shinji shouted back.

"It's a neural interface, you have to _be_ the Evangelion!" The Doctor suggested. Misato caught on, and grinned.

"Right! You have to imagine you are the Evangelion!"

_"Oh, great... What's my motivation?"_ Shinji asked sarcastically. He looked up, only to see the Angel's large chest... Gem thing glow, before it unleashed a massive energy blast. _"GYAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!"_

"Umbilical's been cut! Unit 01 is on battery power now!" Hyuuga shouted. Ritsuko gritted her teeth as Misato gasped.

Unit 01 was blasted back into the carriage that had brought it up. Shinji struggled to get up, managing to get control of his arms, but the Angel moved faster. It extended one of it's arms, grasping the Evangelion by the head, and lifting it up.

"Shinji! Shinji, unleash your AT Field!" Misato shouted.

_"MY WHAT?!"_ Shinji shouted, just before the Angel slammed him into the pavement. _"AAAUUUGGGHHHH!"_

"Shinji! Shinji, get up! You've got to get up! Don't let it win!" Misato shouted again. Weakly, Unit 01's hand reached up, grasping the Angel's wrist. The Angel simply yanked the entire Evangelion forward, and slammed it into the ground again.  
_  
"GAHH!"_

"Braincase has taken damage! The Angel's grip is increasing!" Aoba reported.

"Shinji, the Prog Knife! Use your Prog knife! Left control trigger!" Misato tried. "You're right there, Shinji! SHINJI!"

_"I-I CAN'T MOVE!"_ Shinji shouted, as the Angel proceeded to give Unit 01 a heavy thrashing.

The Doctor stood on the deck, fists balled up, teeth gritted. This was _insane!_ Was Gendo out of his mind?! Sending Shinji out in that damn thing without a lick of training?! Why? _Why was he doing it?_

He looked up at the Commander and the Sub-Commander. The former perfectly composed, but with a kind of... Anticipation. Why? What was he anticipating? What was he waiting for?!

_"DAMNIT! WORK YOU STUPID THING! WORK!"_ Shinji screamed.

The Angel threw Unit 01 back against the carriage, snapping it apart.

"Battery power is dying... Unit 01 is shutting down, pilot's lifesigns are going critical...!" Maya called out.

"SHINJI! SHINJI!" Misato screamed. The Doctor stared, mind working furiously. What was it?! What were those two fools waiting for?! What?!

_"My mother died in an accident... I don't know... What it was... But I keep remembering this giant purple thing..."_

The memory flashed across the Doctor's mind, and in an instant, it all fit together.

"Shinji!" He said, calmly but clearly over the intercom. "Let go!"

"_DOCTOR?!_" Shinji shouted back.

The Doctor focused, and the tone of his voice changed. The bridge crew took notice, as the man's voice now became deep and commanding, a hypnotic quality about it.

"_Let. Go._ Shinji, you're in danger. You're about to _die_. You need to _let go_. You need _help_."

_C'mon, wake up... Wake up you stupid bint! WAKE UP!_

That's when the Doctor felt _it_. Something... Or rather, someone, along the radio connection... _Waking up._

The Evangelion's eyes glowed bright yellow, and it's bonemask broke as it unleashed a terrifying roar.

"Unit 01... Has _reactivated!_" Aoba shouted in surprise. The Doctor schooled his features into a similar expression, even as he glanced up at the Command Deck.

Ikari was smiling as he looked over the displays his screens now showed him, as Fuyutsuki did as well. It faded from his face the moment his gaze was caught by the Doctor's, and he looked away. The Doctor frowned, and looked back at the holoscreen, as Unit 01 rushed the Angel and attacked it ferociously.

The shouts and reports of the bridge crew went on, but the Doctor didn't notice them at all. His rust-colored eyes focused on the Evangelion, the awakened soul within gone completely berserk. It attacked the Angel furiously, ripping off an arm and beating the monstrosity with it's own limb.

_She's awake,_ he thought. _That's what they were after..._

The risks they were taking just to make sure the soul within the Evangelion was cognizant... It was rather ingenious. Provoke Yui Ikari's soul to defend her child. But why? Why go through all that trouble when training and molding Shinji into an effective warrior would have been far more efficient? Would have ensured less chance?

These men were reckless, and Shinji, among so many other people, were going to pay the price.

"It's going to self-destruct!" Misato shouted, as the Angel, desperately losing, leaped onto the Evangelion and expanded. The Doctor's eyes widened.

"NO! DON'T-!"

The Angel exploded, and the Doctor froze. He slowly closed his eyes, letting out a sigh.

_Damnit... Damnit... Why?_

"Unit 01... Is functional," reported Hyuuga through the shocked silence. The Doctor opened his eyes and looked up. He saw the grim form of the Eva walking through the flames, yellow eyes glowing ominously.

"Shinji?" Misato asked.

"... Pilot is stable," Ritsuko reported, with a small sigh. Misato nodded slowly, still staring at the strange form in the chaotic inferno.

The Doctor sighed as well, a mixture of relief and sorrow in his breath. His shoulders sagged just a bit.

_Sachiel... What were you after?_ He thought quietly. _What would make you come all this way just to kill yourself? And more than that..._

_Why couldn't you hear me? And why... Why can't I sense what you did...?_

Too many questions needed to be answered. Too many issues. Too many things that stunk in this place.

But for now... His charge needed him. And, as the flames climbed higher into the night around the glowing after-image of Sachiel's deathscream, so did others...

- - - - - - - -

_More to come. Review please, it encourages me to write more and faster._


	7. First on the Scene

Homecoming

A Neon Genesis Evangelion one-shot by Andrew J. Talon

Disclaimer: Gainax owns it, I don't. I'm not making any money off this story either.

_Author's Note:__ Due to my archaeology field trip this week, I have to split this chapter into two. So, next chapter will have a Shinji flashback to his POV during the battle, while this shows what the Doctor gets up to while Shinji is unconscious. To make up for this, I'll have the next chapter include even more stuff than just that. See you all on Friday!_

- - - - - - -

"MARI! MARIII!"

Toji Suzuhara coughed in the acrid air of the burning city, his lungs burning. His eyes watering, he focused on the partially-collapsed building in front of him, hunting through the wreckage. His screams sounded so quiet in the night against the distant whine of sirens and the roar of the burning buildings.

"MARIII!" He shouted again, running towards a pile of rubble in particular. Coughing harder, he looked around, desperately trying to catch a sign of his sister.

"MARIIII!"

_Fuck, fuck, FUCK!_ He thought furiously. _It's my goddamned fault, my goddamned fault! If I hadn't-_

"DAMNIT!" He screamed. "MARI!"

The sound of a siren distracted him, and he turned, squinting. A sleek, large car drove up through the rubble, it's headlights shining directly on Toji as red lights up top glowed, it's siren wailing like an ambulance. The motor was still running when the driver's side door opened, and a tall, gray-haired man exited.

"HEY! HEY!" Toji shouted. The man ran over, coughing a bit.

"Hey! My sister, my sister, she-I can't find her!" Toji shouted. "I-I don't-I need to find her! Help me out here!"

"It's all right, it's all right," the man said reassuringly. "We'll find her, all right? Now…"

The man looked over towards a burning building with a frown. "What's that?"

"What?" Toji shouted, turning to look. There was an odd sound behind him, and a flash of light like a camera flashing behind him, and he turned quickly back to look.

However, nothing had happened, aside from the man fiddling with a gizmo of some sort.

"Huh? What was that?"

"What was what?" The man asked, looking innocent. Toji shook his head.

"Nevermind! C'mon, we need to get going and-!"

A flash of lightening and the loud boom of thunder interrupted Toji, and he looked up to see that the dark night sky was now covered in swirling clouds. A few moments later, it began to pour on the city, a deluge of rain upon the burning buildings.

"Well now, that's better," the man said with a small grin. He waved his odd device about, humming thoughtfully, before nodding and turning to Toji.

"I've found her. Quick! Go to the car, there's a stretcher in the boot."

"The what?" Toji demanded.

"Boot! Trunk!" The man corrected. "I'm the Doctor, it's all right!"

At the word 'Doctor', Toji took off, running to the back of the strange vehicle; which, now that he got a closer look at, seemed to be some kind of old-fashioned ambulance. It even had fins, like those bizarre American cars from… What time period was it? The 1960s? 70s?

It didn't matter. All that mattered was that his sister needed help, and this man, this Doctor, was providing it. He reached the trunk of the car, which opened the moment he got close. The stretcher popped out, and Toji grabbed it, rushing it back towards where the Doctor was now clearing away debris from a pile of rubble against the closest building. The flames dancing upon the roof slowly fading away into smoke.

"She's in here!" The Doctor shouted. "Give me a hand!"

Toji dove in, furiously digging through the rubble, pulling off chunks of concrete and steel recklessly. The Doctor worked just as hard, tossing pieces of rubble to the side.

"MARI! MARI, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" Toji shouted.

- - - - - - - - -

Mari Suzuhara had long since stopped screaming in pain. It had felt like hours ago… Or maybe days, she couldn't tell. No matter how long it had been, it would do no good, and would only waste air in the small pocket amid the wreckage burying her. She'd kept her eyes closed, and hummed a small song to keep herself awake and conscious. She may have only been nine years old, but she was sensible enough to keep her head in such a situation.

_I wonder what that was? _She idly thought, recalling the huge black shape that smashed against the building she'd been standing by. The blow had seemed to send the entire building falling down upon her. She could not feel her legs, and one of her arms was pinned. Her brother had wanted to go see the monster attacking, but she'd refused to let him go alone. He was always being reckless, sometimes it was a wonder he didn't get himself killed at times. Her brother's dumb jokes, her father's kind smiles, the wind blowing across her face, wide fields of grass spread out before her… It was like a dream, and Mari wasn't prepared to let it stop…

A sudden movement above her broke her from her reverie. The rock and steel over her head was shifting. Mari held her breath and stayed perfectly still, hoping that the rest of the wreckage was not about to come down on her.

"MARI! MARIII!"

A hole opened, and she felt a few drops of rain fall upon her face. More rubble was shifted, allowing her to see two shapes above her.

"T-Toji!" She managed. An older man's voice registered.

"Calm down, calm down, she'll be fine," he said. "We just need to get her out of there…"

More rubble was cleared, and more rain fell upon her. She felt her legs freed, and the last piece of rubble moved from her arm. Pain came back at that moment, but it wasn't as intense as before. Strong arms picked her up, and she dazedly looked at the face of the older man with her brother. He gave her a comforting smile.

"It's all right, it's all right… You're safe now…" He set her down on a stretcher, and strapped her in with practiced efficiency. He rolled the stretcher back, away from the burning building, and a strange peace came over Mari, her pain being numbed.

"Will she be all right, Doc? Really all right?" Toji asked desperately.

"She'll be fine, we just need to get her to a hospital," the Doctor replied. She felt the stretcher shift and tremble, and she was being loaded into a vehicle-An ambulance, she imagined. Toji clambered in after, sitting next to her, worried face over hers. She smiled softly at him.

"Toji…"

"Mari, I, I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry, I didn't… I just-"

"Hang on," the Doctor said, now filling her view. Mari heard a door close, and felt the vehicle move around them. Toji started and gaped.

"Hey! What the hell?!"

"Don't worry, she knows the way," the Doctor said simply. He shined a blue light in her eyes with a thoughtful expression, and down her body.

"Is it… Bad?" She gasped.

"Try not to talk, it's all right," the Doctor said.

"But… The car… It's…!" Toji tried. The Doctor gave a little smirk.

"Relax! She hasn't crashed once! Well… Okay, once. Well… More than once, but she was just a bit finicky at those times…"

"Finicky?!" Toji asked in a high-pitched voice. The Doctor chuckled.

"Giant monsters, you don't mind. Cars that drive themselves? That's something new?" He produced another device and waved it over Mari's legs, a strange buzzing filling the compartment.

"What are you doing now?!" Toji shouted.

"Just piecing her bones back together," the Doctor said. "It's a real mess, but nothing too serious…"

"With what?! What the hell is that?" Toji gaped.

"T-Toji," Mari said, her voice weak but still holding a bit of disapproval he was familiar with. Toji scowled, sighed, and gave the Doctor an apologetic look.

"Sorry… And… And thanks," he said. The Doctor smiled back.

"It's fine… Though uh… If I were you, I'd make sure my weirdness meter was set a bit higher from now on. Things are only going to get… Stranger."

- - - - - - - -

_R&R please!_


	8. Of Ceilings and Stars

Homecoming

A Neon Genesis Evangelion one-shot by Andrew J. Talon

Disclaimer: Gainax owns it, I don't. I'm not making any money off this story either.

_Author's Note:__ Back from my archaeology fieldtrip. It was quite awesome, and pictures of it will go up on my Devart account soon. Here's another chapter. Be warned! It's very long. _

- - - - - - - - - -

"Ugh..."

Shinji felt terrible. Not hangover terrible (Something he'd only experienced once, and had no desire to experience again), but worn down, roughed up. The only comfort he gleaned from his senses was that he was in a bed. A reasonably nice bed... With the smell of anti-septic hanging lightly in the air.

He opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling.

_Swell... Another hospital,_ he thought. _Do they make all their ceilings look the same or something?_

He slowly sat up, eyes sweeping the room out of habit. With a friend like the Doctor, it hadn't taken too long for Shinji to develop a keen bit of situational awareness.

_My bag's here... That's something,_ he thought. _But where is everybody?_

Shinji rose from the bed, happy to see his Converse trainers were on a nearby chair. Pulling them on, he opened the hospital room door and look around the quiet corridor.

He started a bit when he heard soft snoring, and tracked it's source. Fast asleep on a chair outside his room was Misato, her long purple hair framing her face and giving her an almost child-like appearance. Shinji couldn't help a bit of a smile at this.

Sure, the woman had been willing to toss him up against a giant monster in a giant, purple robot he had no idea how to operate, but... Even so, the fact she had stood guard like this brought a bit of warmth into the boy's chest.

And to a few other parts of his body, given how her current position pushed her cleavage up tantalizingly through an open bit of her top. Shinji's blush burned brightly on his cheeks, and he promptly went back into his room. Gathering up a blanket from his bed, he walked out into the hallway and quickly covered the sleeping woman.

"Hnnn... Penpen... That's my beer," she mumbled. Shinji blinked and stared at her strangely, before shaking his head with a wry smile.

Heading back into his hospital room, he flopped on the bed and rummaged about for a TV remote. Upon locating it, he turned it on, keeping the volume low so he wouldn't disturb Misato.

_"NERV's PR department today made the statement that the alien entity, codenamed the 'Third Angel' was defeated with the usage of the advanced biomechanical weapons system known as an 'Evangelion'. While the identity of the pilot has not been released, details of the battle have emerged,"_ the fairly attractive news lady said brightly. _"Parental discretion, however, is advised, as the Evangelion suffered severe damage engaging the Angel."_

Well, at least now he might be able to find out just what the hell he'd actually done last night.

He watched the footage, grimacing as Unit 01 was kicked around like a soccer ball before finally, _something_ changed, and 'he' began to kick ass.

Was it like those myths of Viking berserkers? Had he gone totally crazy and yet, couldn't remember a damn thing about it?

Still... He had to admit, some of what the Eva did were things he wouldn't have minded doing to the Angel. Or his father, for that matter.

"Shinji?"

The would-be Evangelion pilot looked over at the door. A sleepy-looking Misato stood there, the blanket he'd wrapped around her hanging off her shoulders. Shinji blushed as she looked him over.

"Oh, uh, hey... Morning," Shinji managed as Misato walked up to him. She gave him a warm smile, that made him blush furiously.

"How long have you been up?" She asked.

"Just... Long enough to see how I did," Shinji admitted. Misato frowned.

"You don't remember what happened?"

Shinji shook his head.

"Nothing..." He stared up at the TV screen, then looked over at her. "Though uh... I kind of wish I did, now... That was kind of cool." He looked back at the screen and his eyes widened.

"Holy shit... Did I actually break the sound barrier?"

"Yeah... Rits is still trying to figure _that_ one out," Misato said. She gave him a big smile and rubbed his head. "Shinji, I..."

"It's okay," Shinji cut her off immediately. "I mean... If I hadn't stopped it..." He frowned at the screen as the Angel leaped up on top of him and self-destructed. He winced.

"Ow..."

"Even so," Misato said quietly. "Thank you Shinji. It was really brave what you did... Especially since our only other option might have been to send out Rei."

"Rei?" Shinji asked. Misato nodded.

"The First Child. She was our only other pilot..."

"Can I see her?" Shinji asked. Misato frowned.

"Well... If you're up to it..." She looked around the hospital room.

"Don't suppose you've seen your friend? The Doc?"

"He comes and goes," Shinji explained, grabbing his backpack and pulling it onto his shoulders.

"Huh... Must be tough," Misato observed. The Third Child shrugged.

"Sometimes, but... I always know he'll be back," Shinji explained quietly. "Or... What he wants of me." Misato nodded slowly, and offered an understanding smile. The implication was clear.

"So, um... Are we going to see Rei now?" Shinji asked. Misato nodded, and walked out the door.

"This way," she said.

The trip didn't take too long, but grew increasingly ominous the further they went. The Intensive Care Ward was their final destination, and after passing a few rooms with surgeons and doctors working, they arrived at a large window looking into Room 203.

Shinji's breath hitched in his throat as he gazed through the glass.

The room was white, plain, and very clean. The bed was large and impressive with advanced medical equipment all over it, monitoring pulse, blood pressure, and things Shinji couldn't quite see. All of this, however, seemed to make the small form in the bed itself appear smaller, more fragile.

"Rei Ayanami... The First Child, designated pilot of Unit 00," Misato said softly. Her words came out as though she were reading an epitaph, and right now, Shinji could hardly blame the Major.

Rei was a mess. One eye was covered in bandages, at least one arm locked in a cast and a leg in the same situation. All over her pale skin, he could see criss-crossing bandages, as though she was a badly damaged doll being held together with tape and stitching. Only the subtle movement of her chest and the monitors surrounding her signaled she was even alive.

Shinji's fists clenched, as a stark, horrible realization hit him:

_If I hadn't agreed to pilot... She'd have been sent in my place..._

"My father... He... He would have..." Shinji tried, but his rage billowed up inside him and kept him from further speech. Misato sighed and closed her eyes.

"Shinji..." She pursed her lips, searching for some kind of explanation for the young man beside her.

"No, let me guess," Shinji snarled. "_No other choice_, right?!"

Misato grimaced. "Shinji..." She felt herself wilt under his glare, and sighed. "... It's not fair."

"No. It _isn't_," Shinji spat. He glared furiously at her, and then back at Rei. Misato nodded slowly, and looked back at Rei with him.

"It isn't fair, but it's all we have," she stated flatly. "You're all we have, Shinji. Because the Angels are back... And they'll keep coming. And this is all we can do to fight them. To stop them."

Shinji's anger didn't abate. Misato sucked in a deep breath.

"Shinji... You need to pilot. For no other reason than if you won't..." God, she felt so horrible saying that, the sick implication hovering in the air.

But that was life. That was war. She needed to do what she had to, in order to defeat the Angels.

Shinji sighed, and closed his eyes.

"... Fine," he said at last. "Just as long as... As the Commander sticks to the deal, then I'll pilot..."

Misato nodded slowly, and reached out to rest her hand on his shoulder. He didn't pull away, at least.

"C'mon... You're probably starving," she murmured, leading him away.

He grunted in acknowledgement, but kept his eyes on the small, blue-haired form in the bed as long as he could until they turned the corner towards the elevators.

- - - - - - - -

It was the day after the Third Angel had been destroyed by Unit 01, and Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki was going over the data from the fight the MAGI had recorded, as well as anything that could be dug up on the Doctor himself. His cramped office was small but functional, and with the warm wooden bookcases filled on volumes from multiple areas of study it seemed more like a professor's office than that of the second-in-command of a paramilitary organization. Fuyutsuki had no illusions about who he was, in this respect at least. He was a scientist, and a teacher, and having a reminder of that both comforted and tormented him.

_Enough of that,_ he thought to himself, and resumed his work on the computer screen before him. A few anomalies had popped up in the synch ratio of the Third Child, particularly when the "Doctor" had spoken to him over the radio. Other than that however, there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Dr. Akagi was working on the synch ratio readings more extensively, and Fuyutsuki felt it better to leave them in her hands. He instead shifted most of his focus onto the Doctor himself. Gendo wanted answers on this man, and he was due back from the meeting with SEELE soon.

Hours later, and Fuyutsuki had nothing that would answer Gendo's questions. The Doctor's background was perfect-That of an eccentric scientist who had popped up in more than a few universities and places around the world, with a few witnesses testifying about the good things "Doctor Syffer" had done for them, from providing medical assistance to saving people from natural disasters following Second Impact.

Fuyutsuki couldn't help his snort at how perfect the situation was. With all the records lost after Second Impact, the Doctor could claim anything and not have a soul be able to contradict him. What little information was publicly available showed nothing sinister: Only a brilliant, traveling human who had shown up in more than a few odd situations over the past decade and a half, offering help and aid and then quietly vanishing.

"A penny for your thoughts?"

Fuyutsuki looked up from his computer screen.  
_  
Speak of the devil… _

He repressed a snort at that, and studied the man before him. He had left his trenchcoat somewhere, left in his dark pinstripe suit. He casually flipped a coin up and down as he leaned against the side of the door.

The Doctor caught the coin between his fingers, allow Fuyutsuki to get a look at it. His trained eyes immediately identified it as an Obolus, a coin for Charon.

"I'd ask if that was an original, but... Pointless question, isn't it?" Fuyutsuki asked quietly. The Doctor grinned.

"Quite." He flipped the coin to Fuyutsuki, and stuck his hands in his pockets. "Oh, the years have not been kind to you, Professor."

Fuyutsuki caught the relic, and examined it out of habit, resting his elbows upon the desk.

"They weigh upon us all... In different ways."

There was silence for a moment, before Fuyutsuki set the coin down on the desk and looked back up at the Doctor.

"So, what brings you here?"

"I've come to see how you've carried that weight," the Doctor replied.

"And Shinji is merely... What? A ticket?"

"No, Shinji is something special," the Doctor said, looking hurt. "Honestly, you of all people shouldn't accuse me of taking advantage of anyone."

"That was a low blow," Fuyutsuki grumbled. He sighed and looked at the coin again. "I imagine I deserve it though..."

"You deserve a good many things, that coin one of them. But that doesn't mean you'll get them, and that can be both a good and bad thing."

"That you say that with such eyes is incredible," Fuyutsuki said. "I saw your look when the Angel self-destructed..."

He slowly looked up at the Doctor. "I couldn't quite place it, until I looked in the mirror." A sad smile. "A man with countless deaths on his conscience, yet he can do nothing about it."

"Shame we share so much in common," the Doctor replied quietly. "I remember when your conscience was so much cleaner."

"I would hope... Someone could..." Fuyutsuki murmured.

- - - - - - - - -

Christmas Eve, 1997... He'd just received his coffee from his favorite cafe, and with a kind smile he'd thanked the woman and turned to leave, headed for the door that would lead out into the snowy night. The university was near, and he had hopes of retiring to his apartment with a minimum of distraction.

In particular, a distraction named Yui Ikari…

It was then he had run into another man coming out of the bathroom.

"Oof!"

"Quite sorry for that," the man replied. Fuyutsuki looked down upon the man's trenchcoat, and grimaced at the large stain decorating it.

"My mistake... Sorry about that…"

"No, it's quite alright." The man pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and began to clean it off.

"Even so," Fuyutsuki tried, but the man interrupted with a warm smile.

"No hard feelings. Here. Let's get you a new cup there, shall we?"

"Well, I... Thank you." A bit surprised, Fuyutsuki smiled at him back "Well... only if I can buy you one as well. Only fair."

"Seems fair to me."

After procuring new coffee, both men staked out a table by the window and sat down.

"Forgive me, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Fuyutsuki. Doctor Kozou Fuyutsuki," Fuyutsuki said. The man smiled back.

"You may call me the Doctor."

With a wry smirk, Fuyutsuki replied, "Which one?"

"Ah, no fun. No fun," the Doctor chided with a grin.

" Well, you can't go around just like that without inviting some references, can you?" Fuyutsuki pointed out. The Doctor just grinned, and the Professor chuckled.

"But very well... Doctor... What brings you to Japan?"

"Oh, I've been around the neighborhood and thought I'd stop by to see how things have changed."

Fuyutsuki shrugged, sipped his coffee and looked out at the crowds outside. "Anything catch your eye?"

"An interesting young lady with a few… Interesting theories," the Doctor replied.

"Yui Ikari?" Fuyutsuki asked with a raised brow." You have an interest in her work?"

"Ah, that's her name," the Doctor confirmed. "Yes, you could say I have a specially vested interest in her work."

"You are a meta-biologist?"

"Not precisely. I'm more impressed that she's gotten everything so right."

"So right?" Fuyutsuki asked, bemused. "Granted, her theories on human evolution and possible divergent paths are fascinating, groundbreaking, but... To describe it as "right"...?"

"They're almost absolutely correct," the Doctor said. "Naturally there are some educated guesses and a few conclusions that can lead to some very poor rationalizations, but otherwise..."

"Excuse me, but... On what basis do you make that assessment? Absolutely correct?" Fuyutsuki was a scientist, and he couldn't help feeling... Irritated at this man's statements.

"On the basis that I'm living proof."

"Just what are you getting at?" Fuyutsuki asked flatly.

The Doctor broke into explanation, going over several key, revealing facts to the Professor. Fuyutsuki blinked, sitting in silence as he listened for untold minutes. This man... He knew his stuff, that was for sure. He wasn't some arrogant blowhard. Hell, he'd come to a number of conclusions he himself had never even thought of, yet tracing the reasoning made perfect sense

Though there was one thing that bothered him...

"You don't believe humanity is in the twilight of it's evolution?"

"Not in the least. Why, I could show you many worlds, countless worlds much like this one. Where Lillim have evolved to your point, and even beyond."

"Lillim? Countless worlds?" The Professor shook his head and chuckled. "An interesting tale... You're well learned, I'll give you that much. Are you an author of some sort?"

"I am a child of Adam."

"Really."

"Of course. I could explain it to you, but you'd need definitive proof. You are a Scientist, after all. But beyond a scientist you are still a man, and man requires an explanation for all things, for their world and their place in it."

The Doctor paused, and studied Fuyutsuki intently. "Of course, man does not hesitate to manufacture their place, nor do they pause in making their place the center of all things. However for you, my particular Lillim, there is something other than yourself that lies in the center of all things."

"And that would be, 'Doctor'?" Fuyutsuki asked dryly.

"A young woman named Yui Ikari."

The kitsune smile on the Doctor's face seemed to cut right to his heart.

"... Just who are you? Really? What is this all about?"

"It is just as I said. I was in the neighborhood, and I decided to pay a visit."

" ..." Fuyutsuki sighed and stood up. "Thank you for the coffee, but I really must be going..." This man was so strange, so disconcerting... What did he want?

"What do you believe, Kozo?" The Doctor asked as Fuyutsuki turned to go.

The Professor stopped at the man's tone. "... What?"

"Tell me… What do you believe?"

"… I believe that... We spend our whole lives feeling as though we're missing something, and sometimes... Sometimes we find out it's always been with us. And other times, it's found far too late." He shrugged. "And that... There's something much bigger than we could ever hope to describe, yet we keep trying to box that whatever it is with whatever we have at hand. Religion, philosophy..." He snorted.

"Even science..."

He turned back to look at the Doctor.

"And... I suppose, part of me believes that there is no time left for man... This is as far as we can go. This is it. I'm standing in a world with the clock nearing midnight. And nothing to truly show for it, as a man... As a human..."

There was silence for a few moments, neither man saying anything, before Fuyutsuki broke with a snort.

"Well... Was it what you were expecting, Doctor?" He asked flatly. God, he had never felt so old before. Letting all of this out on this irritating, strange man... It was as if he had met Fuyutsuki at his weakest, when his attraction to Yui had reared it's head, only for Gendo Rokubungi to emerge into the picture...

"Fairly," the Doctor replied at last. "You're afraid to lose her."

"Doesn't matter how I feel... I can't offer her anything... Just a... An old man's last dying flame," Fuyutsuki murmured.

"Then why not let her go… and see for yourself that Midnight is further off than you believe?" The Doctor asked. Fuyutsuki snorted.

"What could you show me that might make me do that?"

"Well, I have a spaceship, for one," the Doctor said with a grin.

"Let me guess, it's a blue police phonebox?" Fuyutsuki asked dryly.

"I wish it were something as fantastic."

"Well then..." The Professor shook his head and sighed. Why not entertain some madness tonight? He had nothing better to do, save avoid his… Student. "Lead on..."

The Doctor, coffee in hand, lead him to where he parked his vessel, on a dark alley some distance from the hubbub and noise of the Christmas shoppers. Fuyutsuki couldn't help his snort of disbelief when he saw the Doctor's ride.

"... You're joking, right?" He began to laugh at the sight of the tiny, plain Yugo parked before him. "This... This is your spaceship? Ahahahahahahaha!"

"Not at all. It's much roomier on the inside," the Doctor replied with a grin.

"Of-Of course! Hahahahahahahaha! Oh, Doctor..." Fuyutsuki grinned and shook his head. "Why not? I could use a good laugh after today! Hahahahahahaha!"  
The Doctor snapped his fingers, and the tiny vehicle lets off a pulse of energy that caused the surrounding street-lights and the lights of buildings to flicker.

Fuyutsuki's laughter slowed. "Hahaha... Haha... Ha... Ah... Um... Eheh..."

"How's that crow, by the way?" The Doctor asked pleasantly.

"Um... Wh-What?" Fuyutsuki asked, all his attention on the otherwise plain-looking Yugo.

"Fantastic, isn't it?" The Doctor asked, as the doors open automatically

Fuyutsuki slowly, cautiously approached the car, and looked inside

"Oh my..."

Fuyutsuki stood up, and looked around the outside of the car, before looking back inside.

"Don't be afraid to give the tires a small kick too. I just had them rotated. She's pretty good running, only has forty million lightyears," the Doctor went on.

Fuyutsuki took a deep breath "Um... So... " He looked over at the Doctor "...Where are we going?"

"Where do you want to go? A brief hop to the Moon? Maybe Mars? I don't recall you Lillim making it that far," the Doctor replied.  
"..." The professor shook his head and laughed quietly, his tone that of a man presented with the impossible, yet feeling giddy about it. "Well... Why not Mars?"

"Why then, hop in," the Doctor said. He jumped into the Driver's seat.

Fuyutsuki chuckled again, and slid into the passenger seat. He buckled up out of habit.

"Good idea. She tends to get a bit of speed out of the gate." The Doctor floored it, the car going straight for a moment, before taking off and going skyward. Up, up, and ever higher.

"She? ... She's not named the TARDIS, by any chance, is she?"

"Ah, I wish. I prefer the name Romana."

Fuyutsuki shook his head and laughed out loud. And I thought Yui's obsession with that show wouldn't do a damn thing for me...

The trip was frighteningly quick. Earth, the Moon, the near endless void of stars, then the red planet, a descent through the Martian Clouds and finally a four point landing, skidding to a halt on the vast, alien landscape. Fuyutsuki was left gaping, staring in wide-eyed, innocent wonder.

"Welcome to Mars, population, zero," the Doctor said.

"... Can we get out?:

"Why of course, though you'd probably die."

Fuyutsuki chuckled. "The BBC will be crushed to learn the real Doctor's ship can't protect it's passengers when they open a door..."

"Witty. Sadly I can't hold a candle to the human imagination." The Doctor reached into the glovebox and tossed a wrist-band device to Fuyutsuki. "Put this on, and then you can go."

"All right..." He took a deep breath as his slid the device on, and made sure it was secure. He then glanced out at the landscape again, hand resting on the door handle.

"... You haven't... Taken anyone else with you to Mars, have you?"

"Oh no! Not at all! You're the first," the Doctor assured him.

"... I'm trying to think of something..." Fuyutsuki chuckled. "Profound to say..."

"Then don't let me spoil you."

"Oh, you can travel through time then? Do you know what I'm going to say?" Fuyutsuki asked. The Doctor just grinned back, and the Professor sighed.

"What the hell... Banzai!" He kicked open the door and stepped out, kicking up a fair amount of dust as he did.

The Doctor chuckled.

"The only fitting thing."

Fuyutsuki looked around, and jumped up. In the lower gravity, he sails high, higher.... He lands softly, knees bending. His grin widens, and with the light in his eyes you could swear he had lost ten years in age.

"Hahahahaha!" He ran and leaped all over the ground, giddy as a child, while the Doctor leaned against the Yugo and watched him go.

"Hahahaahahahaha! Hahahahahahaha!" He grinned and bended down, feeling the Martian soil and letting it fall through his fingers, tracing the trails the grains made back down into the earth below. Or rather, mars below.

" Oh... This is... This is fantastic... Incredible..."

"Ah, but this… It's only one world. And a dead world at that," the Doctor said. "Frankly, there are many more worlds beyond this one. Living worlds, with life, sentience, culture..."

Fuyutsuki chuckled. "You of all people, so cynical? I'm doing something no one has ever done before!" He threw his arms out. "This! This is..." He trailed off, looking around, before his gaze slowly met the star twinkling above.

"... This is just one small step, isn't it? One step... Just one out of the cradle..."

"...That's quite a profound way of putting it," the Doctor said after a bit of silence.

"Is this why you chose me? Yui... Yui would love this... Despite her theories and beliefs, there's a part of her with hope for the future... An eye on distant stars..."

" It'd be a waste...to let a bright girl like Yui convince the world that this is their limit," the Doctor said quietly.

"... Then... Why show me? Why not her?"

"Because it's not my place to give you all of the answers," the Doctor said quietly. "Whatever happens after this, it's up to you. Yui needs that hope for the future. But it's not my place to give it to her. That girl is the center of your world, not mine."

The silence stretched on again for a time, before Fuyutsuki looked directly into the eyes of the Doctor. It was hard not to gasp at what he saw, what he finally saw after all this time: Age. Such a deep ancientness in those eyes…

" ... Just... Who are you, really? What are you?" He walked up to the car and leaned against it, staring at the other man. The Doctor sighed and smiled wryly, sticking his hands in his pockets.

"There are a lot of names I go by. But mentioning them sends the wrong message. It evokes the wrong thoughts or emotions."

"So... You go by Doctor... A person who makes other people better..." Fuyutsuki murmured.

The Doctor took a brief breath of the Martian air, and glanced up at the sky.

"It's a much better title than Star of the Morning, don't you agree?"

"Star of...?" His eyes widened in shock, and he stared at the Doctor. Really, truly looked at him, and somehow, deep within him, he saw. "You...?"

The Doctor merely nodded.

"..." Fuyutsuki opened his mouth, then closed it again. He sighd and looked over the Martian landscape ... And finally, he chuckled.

"You're... Not what I expected then..."

At the Doctor's look, Fuyutsuki grinned.

"What else does one say when they meet Satan? And he drives a Yugo and shows you the stars?"

"Like I said, reality is no match for the human imagination."

"And that reality is?"

The Doctor shrugged again.

"I'm actually a pretty nice guy who likes you Lillim."

"Why? I'm guessing you've got a whole universe out there to explore... Beings far older, far more... Understanding than us must exist. More powerful, more learned..."

"Yes, but fundamentally no different. And I suppose that's why I like you all. You're the same, but you Lillim are always so different. You even have a catchy name. Your counterparts are merely 'Children of Adam'. Nothing poetic."

"What's the difference besides that?"

"The Children of Adam have everything they need to survive," the Doctor explained. "In short, they're boring, they need nothing else, they know what they need, and they exist accordingly. All of the Lillim I've seen, however, no two worlds are alike."

"Your... The others of your kind... What do they think about your... Ideas?" Fuyutsuki ventured.

"Some go with them, some reject them, I've been chased from my fair share of worlds...However, what they do with them is subject to their discretion. And they're only privy to them if they're willing to hear them."

Fuyutsuki shook his head, sighed, and looked up at the stars again. "... I feel... Like I've just been born again... Looking up at the universe with new eyes... Everything... Nothing could ever look the same after this..."

"No person who's had such an epoch changing experience can claim otherwise," the Doctor replied.

Fuyutsuki snorted. "So, you... Travel the stars... Take any passengers?"

"On occasion… Interested?" The Doctor asked.

"More than I could put into words..." With a grin, Fuyutsuki looked back up at the stars. It was almost as though he could hear them calling him...

His eyes settled upon a small blue star, twinkling ever so slightly above  
_  
Yui...  
_  
He shook his head. What was he doing thinking about her all of a sudden? This man, this Doctor was offering him the universe, and all he could think about was his... Student.

No... He supposed he should be honest, she was much more than that. So vibrant, so brilliant, so caring... She was like fire. She made everything around her seem so cool, so dull, and he needed that. Needed her.

"…" He laughed grimly "Here I am... On the brink of something no human has ever done... Something I want, and all I can think about is..."

At the Doctor's calm expression, he shrugged helplessly. "Her..."

Why? Why did he hold on? She was with Rokubungi... That was it. That was the end. He sighed and reached up, rubbing his face.

"... I don't know why I can't let her go. Why she's making me... Hesitate."

" Because love is the most powerful force in the universe," the Doctor said quietly.  
"... " He looked at the Doctor oddly.

"More powerful than any weapon, or any other emotion for that matter," the Doctor continued. "In many ways and in many forms, it all comes to Love."

"… I suppose... It would be foolish to argue the point..." Fuyutsuki said. He looked up at the stars with a sad smile. He slowly nodded, and headed back to the passenger side.

The Doctor slipped back into the driver's seat. The trip home was short and silent, and soon they were back on the same street they'd started from

"I'll likely be off for a time after this," the Doctor warned as Fuyutsuki got out. "Next time you see me, you may not recognize me."

"You regenerate too?" Fuyutsuki shook his head. "Is the whole of that show just... Did you make it?"

"I may have served some...basis," the Doctor said with a chuckle.

"Sensei~!"

Fuyutsuki started, and turned to look at his student, heading down the street towards him.

"Y-Yui? What are you doing here?"

"I was out to get dinner," Yui replied with a wide smile.

He shot a suspicious look at the Doctor, who was leaning against his car. The entity just smiled innocently.

"I see..." He turned back to Yui and gave her a big smile. "What're you having?"

"Haven't decided yet," she replied. She smiled back.

As the Doctor climbed back into his car, he honked the horn. Both Fuyutsuki and Yui looked back at him.

"Remember what we talked about, Fuyutsuki."

The Professor stared, and then slowly nodded.

"Of course... Take care, Doctor. And... Thank you."

"Doctor?" Yui asked. "Doctor Who?"

The Doctor laughed immediately at that, and Fuyutsuki joined him. He started the car, and drove away into the night. Fuyutsuki turned and smiled at Yui.

"Yui... Would you mind some company for dinner tonight?"

"Not at all, Sensei," Yui replied.

Fuyutsuki led Yui off, an arm around her shoulders as he looked up at the stars…

- - - - - - - - - - -

In the present... Fuyutsuki could only stare at the coin in his hand.

" ..." He looked back up at the Doctor. "You knew this would happen..."

"Not every specific, but…" The Doctor shrugged, suddenly looking tired. "It happens to all races. When confronted with their origins, they decide what to do with it." A dark expression came over his face, and he glared at the NERV seal on the wall nearby. "I've seen more of the wrong choices than I like."

"... And Shinji?" Fuyutsuki asked at last. "What choice are you offering him?"

"To choose what he wants, or what he needs." The Doctor offered Fuyutsuki a small smile, with the hint of danger in his tone. "I trust you will provide the means for that?"

"… I'll see what I can do," Fuyutsuki said quietly. The Doctor nodded, turned and held up a hand to wave in farewell. The Professor slid back in his chair, and gazed down upon the coin. He reached down and picked up the Obulus, and held it up, comparing it to the entity walking away.

With a quiet sigh, he glanced down back at the coin.  
_  
Which face will you show here?_ He wondered. _Doctor, or…?_

He flipped the coin.

- - - - - - - -

_Hope this was worth the wait, guys. Trust me, I have been writing like crazy to get this out, but it just kept getting longer and longer the more I added onto it, until I got this monster flashback with Fuyutsuki and the Doctor on Mars! However, as I can sense I'm entering dangerous territory with the Doctor, future chapters will give more attention to the other characters in this changed universe. Most of this is just to set up stuff for the Doctor and Fuyutsuki in the future. With that done, let the new Shinji wreak some chaos and havoc of his own! As always, please review. I don't know what you think of my writing if you don't!_


	9. Dreams and Auto Repairs

Homecoming

A Neon Genesis Evangelion one-shot by Andrew J. Talon

Disclaimer: Gainax owns it, I don't. I'm not making any money off this story either.

- - - - - -

Emotion was not a foreign concept to Rei. She had feelings, rarely indulged in or fully experienced due to her nature, but they were there. However, the only emotions she had been completely lost and immersed in were those of pain, anguish, suffering. Relatively recent experiences, associated with the failed synchronization test.

Passion was undeniably foreign to her. Affection even more so save in those small amounts bestowed by the Commander.

Yet in this hospital bed, every morning she had woken up within it she had been beset by what seemed the after effects of those emotions. Lingering warmth, a feeling of contentment to rival the pain in her injuries. It all vanished quickly upon waking, leaving only a faint echo soon drowned out by the sensations of her own being, but it perplexed Rei.

Quite calmly, she had asked Dr. Akagi about these sensations. The blonde had, quite characteristically, given her a condescending expression of concern and said she would look into it.

Nothing had changed. Rei had not asked further. It had continued.

The faintest impressions of whispers in light and dark, a lover's exchange rested on her memories, things she could not really explain. It confused Rei. It was something new, something different.

She was not made for things that were new and different. She was made for a purpose, and to fulfill it. Period.

So why were her dreams populated by foreign emotions? Why were her dreams filled with people she did not know? Could not know?

_The boy stood in front of the train station, gripping the straps on his backpack tightly. He looked around curiously, a strange kind of determination in his stance. A man in a suit and trenchcoat stood near him, hands in his pockets. The boy looked right at her, and by his expression she knew he saw her. The man looked as well-And Rei felt herself blown out of his awareness, like a candle being snuffed out. The boy's face is the last thing she sees, before her awareness floats away, far away from a dreadful presence she is all too happy to escape._

_A couple is lying in bed. She stares at the two, tracing the contours of their naked bodies as they lay there, covered by a thin sheet. The boy sits up and stretches, sighing and looking relaxed. The girl sighs after, and reaches a lightly tanned hand up to his side._

_"What's wrong?" She asked._

_"Nothing," the boy replies flatly. The girl sits up fully and gives the boy a hug from behind, resting her head on his shoulder. The boy makes no movement, save from his dark red eyes that glance over at her._

_"You're lying," she murmured. The boy looks sullen._

_"It's nothing... Go back to sleep," he says. The girl sighs quietly and nuzzles his shoulder._

_"I can't sleep when you're tense like that," she murmured._

_"So don't touch me," he replied gruffly. The girl takes no offense and merely smiles._

_"Do you want me to stop touching you?" She asked._

_The boy is silent. The girl smiles shyly._

_"What is it?"_

_"... Feeling things... Seeing things..." He shakes his head. "They're just dreams... It's nothing..."_

_"Nothing?" The girl prodded lightly._

_"..."_

_The girl sighs again. The boy grumbles._

_"It's nothing... Just some... Guy in a tower..." He closes his eyes. "And he's kicked my ass."_

_"Do you know him?" The girl asked._

_"Nope. I just know I hate him," the boy replied. He shrugged. "The guy's just... So fucking smug about it. No, not even smug... He's not smug, not really. He's just acting that way. Fucker's won and he doesn't even feel like he has."_

_"You would feel smug?" The girl asked._

_"Fuck yes I would," the boy said with a feral grin. "I'm the biggest, baddest motherfucker out of a whole army of big, bad motherfuckers, and this bastard just beat us all! Single-handedly! Not a scratch on him! I was him I'd be gloating over these morons."_

_"Yet he's not," the girl said. The boy grumbled some more._

_"Just doesn't make any sense..." He reached an arm around her waist and pulled her into his lap, her fingers running through his jet black hair._

_"Something else that doesn't make sense," he growled deeply. "You're in my bed, naked, and you haven't been screaming my name for the last ten minutes."_

_"Hnnn," the girl moaned softly as the boy began to do things to her. "You're always changing the subject..."_

_"Do you mind?" The boy asked pointedly. The girl whined._

_"N-Not really, ohh..."_

_"Then leave it for later," the boy growled. "Always a later..."_

_The couple became extremely passionate, and Rei felt their emotions billow up and sweep over her, as though she were caught up in a tide. She felt her breath quicken, her skin warm..._

_The boy looked up at her, and stared._

_"Who the fuck are you?" He asked._

Rei's eyes opened. Her heart beat frantically in her chest, like a frightened bird trying to escape a box. She was drawing deep breaths. She felt warm all over...

A moment later, the impressions were gone. The feelings were gone. She stared up at the ceiling, silent and contemplative despite the red in her cheeks and sheen of sweat on her brow.

- - - - - -

Gendo Ikari was not a man for whom doubt stuck long. Every action he had taken since that day so long ago, when he had left the Antarctic to escape Second Impact, was focused on one objective. There was no hesitation, no resistance. In that, he supposed, there was an odd sort of freedom-No atrocity after Second Impact could match up, so with that done, any other sin would be inconsequential.

He did sometimes wonder what it would be like to feel guilt over his actions, to lack this surety. He felt it only vaguely, and then pulled back, believing the concept to be of no consequence. The course was set. There was nothing more to do than see it through.

He stopped in front of the elevator and waited. He had returned from dealing with SEELE over the battle with the Third Angel. The old men had not been happy, but the necessity of maintaining Unit 01 had overridden any real objections to his work. Gendo snorted-They would forever complain, and he would only heed their foolishness when it suited him. They knew he was the only one able to accomplish their objectives, even with the risk of allowing him control over Third Impact.

An elegant solution, without freedom to choose otherwise. Not a perfect scenario, but the closest that could be established.

The elevator doors opened, and Gendo looked upon the form of his son, whose face, already marred with anger, filled with true fury. The boy glared at him without a bit of hesitation. Gendo ignored his son, and stepped into the elevator between Misato and Shinji.

"Commander," Misato greeted formally as she exited. Gendo spared her a nod. Shinji continued to glare at him as he stepped out into the hallway. For a moment, he looked as though he might say something, but Shinji sighed instead and the anger left his face.

"Commander," he added softly, before the elevator doors closed. Gendo felt a slight twitch in his jaw. He determinedly ignored it.

- - - - - - -

"So, where are you and the Doctor staying?" Misato asked, hoping to distract Shinji from the unpleasant moment of before. The Third Child looked over at her, and shrugged.

"Haven't decided yet... Haven't seen him since yesterday..."

"Neither have I," Misato hummed. She smiled at Shinji.

"Tell you what! There are a couple of empty apartments where I live. And I know the manager. I'm sure I could find you guys somewhere to stay."

"That'd be great, Misato. Thanks," Shinji said, returning her smile for a brief moment. She reflected that he definitely looked much cuter with a smile on his face...

_Woah. Hold on there, perverted old woman. Keep your thoughts away from there..._

"Ah! Shinji! Captain! Finally! This bloody place is a maze!"

Shinji looked down the hall and shot the Doctor a suspicious look. "And where the heck have you been?"

"Oh, attending to this and that," the Doctor said cheerfully. "But, I feel rather fatigued. Let's head for home, shall we?" He looked at Misato. "If you'd like, Captain, we could give you a lift."

"Mm? You have a car?" Misato asked. The Doctor nodded.

"Oh yes..."

"As much as I appreciate it, I think my car will get us home. Besides, I know where I can find a place for you to stay and it's easier in one car," Misato said, striding down the hallway towards the car park. The Doctor moved to let her pass, and then followed, sharing a look with Shinji. Shinji frowned and narrowed his eyes at the Doctor, who looked the picture of innocence.

The reason was revealed soon enough, once they reached the carpark. As they approached the Renault, the car looked just as they had left it-Beat up, badly damaged, but potentially drivable.

"See? I told you," Misato said cheerfully. She pulled out the remote for the car doors, and unlocked it.

_Beep Beep!_

With that sound... The entire vehicle proceeded to fall apart like a model without glue. Misato's jaw nearly hit the pavement as her pride and joy became little more than a collection of spare parts that lay in a design vaguely recognizable as a car.

"M-My car..." She mumbled hollowly. Shinji turned and glared at the Doctor.

"What did you do?" Shinji hissed.

"Nothing! I made it so the car could get us to NERV," the Doctor said. "I kept my end of the bargain, it's not my fault the Renault broke it!" He walked up next to the stunned Misato, and gave her a smile.

"Don't worry though, Captain! I know a repair shop that will put her back together, good as new! I'll pay for it, no worries!"

Misato stared at the Doctor for a long time, as though contemplating how many ways she could kill him. She then slowly nodded.

"Agreed... That's very generous, by the way."

"Least I can do. Anyway, my transportation should be here... Now," the Doctor said, as a cheerful honking of a car horn filled the garage. In moments, an old-fashioned Cadillac ambulance drove up, coming to a stop with an afterfire from it's engine.

Misato blinked.

"Uhhh..."

"Here she is!" The Doctor patted the hood of the car affectionately. "Hop in, won't you?"

Shinji gave Misato a smile. "The Doctor's, um, very good at robotics and stuff..."

"Ah, I see," Misato said. Really, it wasn't the strangest thing she'd ever seen, and with how much the MAGI did for Tokyo-3, it wasn't as though it was unheard of for vehicles that could drive themselves.

But there was a strange feeling she got from the car, as she slid into the front seat and buckled up. A feeling that it was much more than it appeared. Then again, she got that same feeling around the Doctor and Shinji, so perhaps she shouldn't have been surprised.

"It took her a while to get here," Shinji observed. The Doctor shrugged and put the car in gear. They took off at a relatively sedate pace compared to Misato's frantic driving.

"She's a bit tuckered out from some errands I had to run," the Doctor said. "So, Captain, where to?"

Misato quickly gave him the directions to her apartment, and in mere moments they were off.

- - - - - - -

_Sorry for the long time between updates, but school seems to enjoy sapping my brain of all its creativity and will to write. I'm trying to get my degree in fifteen months, and then a job of some kind afterwards. Maybe with the State Department, go to other countries. I kind of suck at foreign languages but enough time in another country and anyone can figure out the tongue if you work at it. Unless you're mute or deaf but that brings with it a whole slew of other problems, so I won't worry about it._


	10. Flashback

Homecoming

A Neon Genesis Evangelion story by Andrew J. Talon

Disclaimer: Gainax owns it, I don't. I'm not making any money off this story either.

* * *

_Flashback_

* * *

The Ophan Hub was a marvel of engineering, one that could easily be classified as a wonder of the galaxy it inhabited. A great sphere, enveloping the homeworld of the Ophan itself, connected to every Ophan world, Ophan ship-All joined by what humans would call Dirac Seas, a galaxy-wide empire of total efficiency.

Atop a tower on the equator of the vast planetary shell, as tall as the atmosphere of the world below it, the Ophan Supreme Executor stood, floating in the vast chamber, his outer shell spinning rapidly around his glowing core in agitation.

"Explain! Explain these setbacks!" The Executor ordered. "Explain these... _Defeats_."

Other Ophan, all subordinate to the Supreme Executor, hovered nearby, outer shells changing shapes in shared agitation.

"Unknown. Forces at the Progenitor's Homeworld destroyed. Forces at Revan Null destroyed. Forces at-"

"Desist! I am familiar with the incidents in question!" The Executor declared. "By what manner? By what force? By what _enemy_?"

"Enemy unknown!" Cried another Ophan. "Suggestions: Progenitor relics utilized!"

"Impossible! Progenitor relics beyond all other races comprehension!" The Executor said.

"Yet Progenitor homeworld occupied by other beings-"

"Only Ophan possess secrets of Progenitors! Ophan are _superior!_"

Silence. Then one Ophan spoke up.

"If Ophan are superior... How are Ophan defeated?"

The Supreme Executor was silent, as all of the Ophan directed their awareness to the one that had spoken. Then, a curious sound filled the great chamber. A sound none of the Ophan had ever heard before.

Hands clapping.

"Oh, _very_ good, very good," called a voice that was not Ophan in origin. "That one is very clever. Very clever indeed."

"IDENTIFY!" Screamed the Executor, followed by other Ophan screaming the same thing. They changed their shapes, now resembling elongated prisms, their cores charging for battle.

Out of the darkness of the Tower emerged a man. Beneath his feet, he floated on a simple anti-grav panel. A laughably simple technology the Ophan had learned to emulate with their own AT Fields long ago.

"IDENTIFY!" Screamed another Ophan. The man smiled darkly.

"Who am I?" He asked quietly. "Why... I'm the man who's got all of you in such a terrible uprising."

"Impossible! One inferior being... Against the Ophans?" The Executor demanded. "You could not have defeated the Ophans! You could not-!"

"Then how did I get in here?" The man asked. "How did I get into the most secure facility in your entire empire, with you only figuring out I was here when I _wanted_ you to?"

More silence, then:

"DESTROY HIM! DESTROY HIM!"

Powerful energy bolts shot from several Ophan, packing enough energy in each blast to annihilate a single Earth tank. The man touched a control on his watch, and four Dirac Seas opened, redirecting the shots right back at their shooters. Numerous Ophan were blasted apart by the force of their own wrath before the Executor called it off.

"CEASE FIRE!" The Executor arranged his outer shell into a prism, slowly rotating as beams of light emanated from his core. The slipped over the man, who held up a glowing device of his own.

"Dirac Sea generator. Opens little portals in spacetime that can be linked together." He smirked. "One of your own. What was it you said? 'Only Ophan possess secrets of Progenitors! Ophan are _superior!_'" He cried in a mockery of the Ophan's own declaration.

"... Identify," the Executor growled. The man narrowed his eyes, his face cold, the entire room filled with a dark, terrible wrath that fed itself into the minds and souls of every Ophan within.

"I'm the man you took _everything_ from," he snarled. "I'm the man who's been looking through your archives, your records for the past couple of... Oh, I don't know, days? It was like watching a star being torn to shreds by a blackhole-Couldn't help but watch the light fading into oblivion.

"I used to wonder just how diverse the life in this universe could be. Surely that Drake fellow back home couldn't be right, could he? There wasn't a universe filled with life of all shapes and sizes, was there? Well... When I get back, I'll owe him a beer. This universe is filled with life. This galaxy alone home to countless species..." His eyes seemed to glow with a terrible fury.

"Before _you_ came. Every record, every _file_, detailing every world scorched bare of life! Every species _enslaved_, and when they were no longer needed, _exterminated!_ Every species wiped out, all life _not_ Ophan!" His anger seemed to make the very air in the chamber boil.

"The Progenitor's homeworld was just the latest batch to go! Hoping to find secrets to use to burn the Universe!" His voice lowered, barely heard in the vast chamber, yet not an Ophan had trouble hearing.

"Except you did something that day. You showed yourselves to _me_. You did it by _destroying_ the one place I'd found that I could call my own. The one place with people who could have _become_ my own. You slaughtered them all..." He took a deep breath.

"That's the problem when you commit genocide, isn't it? It's never enough for you. You have to continue the course, the blood of millions, _billions_ preventing any purchase, even when you're trying to crawl back out of the pit you've dug."

"OPHAN ARE-!"

"**SILENCE!**" The man roared, seemingly making the Tower tremble with his voice. The terrible, stifling wrath seemed to darken the room even more than it already was.

"I guess I'll see... How far I can dig... Until I can't get out," he said quietly.

"Identify myself? Here's a name for you all to remember, for your kind to whisper in the dark corners of the universe before I find you all, _destroying_ you all. I am the _Morningstar_," he whispered. "So _burn._"

The Tower erupted into light, it's power systems overloading and detonating, leading to the vast conduits of energy that maintained the integrity of the massive Hub to overload and begin to explode as well. Atop the Tower, the Ophan screamed in rage and hatred as the man vanished, using the Dirac Sea to slip between space elsewhere.

He emerged on another world in the system, standing beneath the red sky, ignoring the Ophan structures around him bursting into flames. Their Dirac Seas, the key to their dominance of the galaxy, were being turned against them-The sheer energy of their Hub, their homeworld exploding was forced through every active channel. All over the galaxy, the Ophan were being destroyed, consumed in the vast inferno of their own creation.

The man watched the devastation, acutely feeling the vast number of deaths he had inflicted... And began to weep.


End file.
